Absolution
by Electric Lord
Summary: As the fourth Hokage falls, a new man rises. Watch Naruto rise to power under the tutelage of Madara Uchiha, and with a Doujutsu never seen before. Dark!Powerful!Naruto. Future Pairings. Sasuke/OC/Konoha Bashing.
1. Prologue

_Absolution_

_Prologue_

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><p><em><strong>13 Years Ago…<strong>_

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><p>Minato Namikaze looked down into the beautiful blue eyes of his son where Kushina cradled him. Tears sprang unbidden to his eyes, and he couldn't help but smile as a small hand tugged gently on a strand of red hair.<p>

The peaceful instant disappeared with the sound of footsteps. He whirled around, bringing a kunai up to defend his family, but the cloaked figure sailed right through, only materializing long enough to scoop the baby boy into his arms, and vanish in a sudden warp of air.

Minato stood still for a moment, staring at the empty space where a boy, _his_ boy, had rested only a moment before.

Then, he _roared_.

"Minato, wait!" Kushina tried to call out, but it came a moment too late, and the man was gone with a blinding flash of yellow. All across Konoha, he spun and tore through time on the lookout for the cloaked man.

The voice of reason roared in his ears, and Minato ached to ignore it, his heart plunging to his gut at the thought that maybe this man wasn't even in Konoha anymore. After all, surely a reverse summoning would make perfect sense.

Most likely, his son was-

Minato's tormented thoughts were sent skidding to a halt as he stared up at the Hokage monument from the roof of his office.

With Naruto tucked in his arms, Obito stood still upon the carved face of Minato Namikaze, and underneath his mask, the man grinned.

Then, a rasengan came through his chest.

Naruto fell as the masked man suddenly went incorporeal. Minato surged forward, snatching the small bundle in his arms before teleporting to a rooftop below.

Within his arms, the bundle disappeared in a gush of smoke.

"You didn't really think I'd let you get him back so easily, did you?" The masked man asked, taunting. "He is in my possession, and that is where he will remain until I get what I want."

"Konoha doesn't deal with terrorists." Minato spat out, shaking with barely suppressed anger. The masked man tilted his head childishly, adjusting the small bundle tucked in his arm.

"Ah, ah. Is that any way to talk to me right now, given your position?"

A sickness unknown to Minato before this day settled in his gut. He had never so close to grovelling at a man's feet before. His son lay in this man's arms, frail and tiny. His shrieks pierced the air and shuddered his heart.

Minato glared with all the passion and fury of a thousand suns.

"What_ do _you want then?"

The man above him brought a finger to trace the side of Naruto's face, stroking his cheek with an affectionless caress.

"You could save me the inconvenience of destroying Konoha with the Kyuubi I pull out of your wife," he began, "and give me her -_ quietly _- for the safe return of your son."

Minato was speechless for one cold blooded-moment, before his veins were fire and anger alive.

"I'll never give you Kushina for-!"

The man laughed mirthlessly. "Well then," he said, chuckling still, "That's a shame."

As the man made to turn away, Minato trembled, and called out.

"Wait."

The man stopped in his tracks, and though Minato didn't know his face, he could _feel _the exact sly grin on this man's lips. Naruto's fearful cries rang in the silence.

"You've come around then?" the man chuckled, a note of satisfaction in his voice.

Minato moved closer.

"Give me Naruto first," he demanded, eyes flashing with a promise of pain. How he hated this man's laugh; mirthless, cold, and undeniably pleased.

The man moved closer, shifting Naruto in his arms as he jumped down to the opposite end of the roof.

"I know the game you are trying to play, _Yondaime_," the man taunted, his cloak concealing Naruto from Minato for a single desperate moment. "And I've no interest in playing it."

Minato felt his eyes stinging with tears from the cold and the fright.

"Please," he said, his voice brimming with desperation. "Please, just give me my son. I'll give you Kushina, I- he's not even had a _chance_...!"

The suspicion was obvious in his tight hold on the child, and in his wary movement,but the man stepped forward.

Opportunity. Bait in disguise, perhaps, but most certainly opportunity.

Minato tore through space-time like the devil was on his tail, and _lunged_.

Obito saw through it instantly, diving straight to his left with Naruto in arms. It was a mistake; Minato threw his kunai straight towards him until in the blur of movement he realised Obito was clutching Naruto as a human shield..

Minato moved jarringly out of the way, and narrowly dodged a hit to the back by warping back to his kunai.

This man knew Minato wouldn't dare lay a hand on his own son. A liability like no other. But on the other hand, he seemed to be relying on him dodging.

Minato gritted his teeth, and with a split-second's thought, sent a kunai forward in a dead-on trajectory. He warped to the man's front, a kunai at the ready to bury handle-deep in his gut when he was winded and sent skidding across the roof with a well-placed kick.

The knife continued its flight towards the man's face, revealed only when Minato disappeared, and out of instinct Obito allowed himself to become incorporeal, a moment's mistake that let Naruto slip from his arms and the kunai sail through him -

It cost him. A shadow clone, created just a few seconds earlier, flashed into existence behind the masked man, swiping Naruto back into his arms. The man whipped around with a growl, his body quickly reforming and reaching out for the baby swathed in blankets -

Minato let the blissful rush of victory flood his veins, the moment's delay a moment too much, and with a flash, a buzz of air and the whirring of a contained hurricane he cried out:

"_Rasengan!_"

There was contact, and then a crack.

The mask broke, shards of porcelain pulled into the attack or pushed out from it to slice through the tissue of the man's face. It carved and stung at his flesh, digging grooves into the already scarred and damaged skin, and he closed his eyes at the impact.

The chaos ended, as though the moment of movement came to rest as still life.

He opened his eyes. The two remaining halves of the man's mask fell to the ground and shattered with a coarse smash, and a single thread of blood dripped, overflowing into a thick stream of blood from the top of his forehead.

Minato stopped, left without words, a sensei staring into the hateful blood-red eyes of his former student.

"Obito?" he breathed.

'_Sensei?'_

Obito said nothing at all.

Minato's hand shook, empty of force. He lowered it.

"Obito," he said again, expression contorted with confusion. Minato stuttered, unable to even speak. "Obito, _why?_"

When Obito looked up into his teacher's eyes, he felt so -

'_-guilty?'_

For one long moment, Obito didn't move, unable to say anything that would warrant the look of betrayal in Minato-sensei's eyes.

But for only one. Obito's hand shook as he reached for his blade, turning it face down in his palm.

"It's no use," he whispered, his voice cracking.

He pulled back the blade, and with a tremble in his wrist, thrust it forward.

"It's no use asking things like that now!"

The blade embedded itself in the left side of Minato's chest with little resistance, sliding through his flesh and muscle and straight into the left ventricle of his heart. The walls convulsed, pushing against the sudden obstruction. Blood spurted out of the heart, seeping into the lungs and out of the body altogether.

Minato coughed up, blood wet and slimy as he choked it out of his lungs onto Obito's face.

He croaked for a moment, eyes wide with wonder. "How could this… why would you…?"

"You let Rin die," Obito hissed. "You let her become some sacrifice for the so-called greater good!"

Minato looked like he was about to cry, wide-eyed and confused without a trace of anger.

"So you did _this?_" said Minato, looking frantically for answers. "You did all of this in _Rin's_ name? Like that's what she would have wanted for you?"

Obito quaked with emotions and doubts that had come too late. He scowled.

"I've already told you," he said, gripping the blade embedded in Minato's heart. "It's too late to ask something like that!"

He yanked the blade out with a squelch. Minato fell to his knees, heaving and coughing and clutching his chest with hands slippery with blood.

Obito looked down on him with a look akin to pity, blade dripping blots of crimson, and Minato reached for his belt with one trembling hand. He unfurled the paper quickly, and fed his chakra into the seal. The air hummed.

"What are you doing?" said Obito, tone exhausted and worried.

Minato looked at him with determined blue eyes.

"Sending the dead back to death."

Obito's eyes widened with realisation, and the summons took place with a roar and almighty crack.

"_Shinigami_," he whispered, jerking away in fear only to be caught by the unexpected, warm contact of Minato's hand on his wrist. It was firm, like a parent or teacher, and reminded Obito faintly of brighter days.

Obito had heard this tone a thousand times.

'_Kakashi's won this spar, Obito. Reconcile, you two.'_

It hurt him to hear it again.

"It's over, Obito," Minato said at last.

Obito might have said he struggled until his very last moments, but it was a freedom too tempting because now, it was _his_ turn, death finally coming for him. His shoulders slumped, and he submitted to a final, empty peace.

The burden of hatred slipped from his back, and Obito smiled, his hand folding gently into the crook of Minato's.

And teacher and student, reunited, passed together into the sweet embrace of death.

"Hakke Fuuin."

Hand, in hand.

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><p>The shadow clone, in those final, bleeding minutes of Minato's life, leapt across time with Naruto in arms to where Kushina was.<p>

She lay, breathing heavily, and smiled when he came in.

"Minato," she breathed, smiling even through her exhaustion. "You're alright. Naruto's alright…"

He knelt by the bed, placing Naruto in the crook of her arms and holding her hand. Even pained and sweaty, her smile still sent Minato weak at the knees, as though he were twelve and not a Hokage.

"Kushina," he whispered, fearful and guilty, "This is just a clone."

Kushina frowned. "A clone…?"

Minato held her hand, voice passionate and strong. "I fought for him, Kushina. I fought for you. I fought to protect this family," he said, tears welling in his eyes as his lifted his fingers from where they were entwined with hers to touch her fingertips. "And I won."

He brought a thumb to Naruto's chubby cheeks, tracing the soft skin and feeling a tear trail down. "And I have never felt so much love as when I look at you, and my… _our_ little Naruto… in my whole life…!"

Kushina grasped for his hand, pulling at his sleeve with worry painted on her face. "Minato, what's happened?"

He looked away from her, as though ashamed.

"My original body is dying," he said, voice shaking. "I won't be here much longer."

Kushina shook, eyes wide, and grabbed onto him, reaching painfully to hold him. Minato clutched her tightly, both of them wound around that tiny child with a tuft of blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

Minato half-expected her to press him with questions and orders to desperately try and ensure he survived, but the moment was quiet and filled with her tears. It hurt more than he could have ever imagined.

He leaned back, catching his breath amongst sobs he choked back, and stroked Naruto's face.

"I wanted so badly," he said, "to see you sleeping in the cot I set up."

His voice quivered.

"I'm not very good at DIY. Kushina was laughing at me, and I had to retry at least three times before I managed to get it all properly. But each time I built it up again I thought about how happy I would be to see our baby Naruto in there," he said. "How happy I would be to see you, at long last, Naruto. You look just like me."

He took in a deep breath.

"But don't give her too much trouble," he whispered. Naruto reached up, gripping his finger and blinking innocently. "Make sure you always eat what she gives you, and that you study when she tells you. If she's ever sad, please cheer her up for me."

"And don't tease her about her hair," he added, smiling despite it all. Kushina's grip on him tightened. "Don't pull on it, either."

"Your mother is the most amazing person I ever got the blessed chance to meet, Naruto," Minato said, voice cracking into a sob. "And I'm so glad I got to see you, even if we could only be a family for these few moments... I'm sorry I never got to meet you, Naruto. I'm sorry I never got to take you to the academy on your first day - I'm sorry I never got to embarrass you in front of your girlfriend."

The brief rendezvous between life and death - the only moment of true, honest family that they'd have - was broken. Minato began to dissolve into smoke.

"Minato," Kushina whispered, overflowing with tears and grabbing onto him desperately. "Minato, I-!"

Minato clenched his eyes shut, tears dripping down as his body was drawn away with the movement of air - into death, where he belonged.

"I'm sorry I denied you the chance to have a father. I'm so-"

His hand, gently cupping Naruto's face, disappeared last.

Kushina, wide-eyed, shaking, pulled her newborn child into her chest, and wailed.

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><p>She awoke at daybreak, body lethargic with the exhaustion of childbirth. The grief hit her as she woke up, and she gasped, reality trickling back to her and rending her head with emotion.<p>

"Kushina-san," someone said sharply. She jerked up to meet their gaze. There were ANBU at her sides, one with a hand on her shoulder.

"There was an attack, and we're afraid that ...The Lord Hokage has passed away," the man said grimly, and her heart suddenly weighted with the lead of death and she rocked forward into her hands and broke into tears. "Miss."

She didn't look up. Minato was _dead._

"Miss, we need to ask you something," he said again. She did not rise from her palms."It is of the utmost importance in regards to village security, Kushina-san."

"What?" she said, looking up at them with red rimmed eyes. Her throat was clogged with her efforts not to cry, and her chest was tight with inexpressible grief.

The man looked at her with a face she could not read, and her heart filled with dread.

"Where is Naruto?"

Her heart skipped a beat and she stopped.

"W-_What?_"

The man looked at her, taking her by the shoulders. "Kushina-san. Your child, Naruto, correct?"

She didn't dare take a breath, looking down to her arms and feeling them cold and bare.

"Where is he?"

"There was an attempt to capture you, Kushina-san, for the Kyuubi. We almost suffered a terrorist attack. We fear that-"

Kushina shook her head, cupping her hands over her ears and pulling her knees to her chest.

"Kushina-"

"Is this a_ joke?_" she whispered, her voice wavering with hysteria. "Naruto was here - in my did you let this _happen? _Minato and… and now- where _is_ he? Where's my baby?!"

Her voice rose into a scream.

"Where is_ Naruto?!_"

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><p>The eternal night of the cave was lit only by a couple of flickering candles. The air was thick with dust and the walls danced with shadows.<p>

Zetsu's laugh sounded like the scraping of coarse cloth on rough stone.

"Oh, isn't it interesting?" he chuckled, his voice echoing softly. "The curse of hatred claims yet another Uchiha."

There was a silence, and a rough-sounding sigh, followed by a withering voice.

"A shame," said Madara. "He could have been an excellent tool."

Zetsu let an unsettling smirk crawl onto one side of his features.

"So _cold._ You'll have to be a little more compassionate than that from now on."

He sidled up to Madara's side, grinning with anticipation at the bundle in his arms.

"That is, if you _do_ intend upon raising that child," Zetsu continued, eyeing the small, whiskered baby. "What a lengthy project. Are you sure it's worth it?"

Madara smiled, decrepit wrinkles contorting.

"I have waited a long time," he said. "The best plans require patience."

And in the depths of that cave, the young boy's blue eyes slowly began to adjust to the darkness...

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><p><em><strong>AN: This is my first story so be nice. Reviews are appreciated, flames are ignored. Thanks.**_


	2. Chapter 1

_Absolution_

_Chapter 1_

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><p><em><strong>13 Years Later…<strong>_

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><p>Descending the stairs, Itachi saw a glimmer of dancing candlelight, and heard the repetitive thunks of weapons hitting targets. He let a small smile creep onto his lips.<p>

The boy came into Itachi's sight, and he watched as the figure moved into the center of the room, and jump up, throwing weapons from each hand. His black, spiked hair bounced as he completed the motion.

There was a solid thunk as the five kunai hit their targets with an indisputable accuracy. Itachi gave him a slow round of applause.

Naruto jumped - Itachi knew as well as Naruto did the boy had heard him coming - gave Itachi a single wink, before sending a kunai over his shoulder and straight into the target at Itachi's side. The Uchiha didn't flinch.

"We all know you're far past basics like that."

He raised an eyebrow at Itachi, approaching the targets to pluck out each weapon, every one firmly planted dead-center.

"A solid foundation leads to excellence," said Naruto.

Itachi moved towards him, plucking the kunai from the target at his side.

"On your last day?"

Naruto shrugged, stretching, and wiping his brow. "Well. You know me. And I know you'd do the same if it came to it."

Itachi let a smile curl at the edge of his lips, and Naruto smiled back, his wide white grin revealing long canines and a sparkle in his eye.

"But for all that training," Itachi said coolly, "do you have anything to show?"

Naruto knew when Itachi was itching for a fight, and he let loose a confident laugh before he surged forward.

Itachi watched with a degree of fascination as Naruto's eyes bled into a sparkling amber, the whites of both turned black as tar. The Hoshokugan, a special bloodline that had been created only with a spark of the Great Tree's power, contained within the Kyuubi and passed down to Naruto. It was a doujutsu above all others, with the power to imitate even the Rinnegan.

Truly, it was a sight to behold.

"So you're using that?" Itachi smirked, pulling a kunai from his pouch and launching forward. "Then, I shall use mine."

Though, Itachi knew what a move like that would cost him. The moment his eyes bled into the Mangekyo, Naruto's too had shimmered away, gold coalescing into a deep red. The black came through just as fast, and Itachi found himself staring straight into a Mangekyo - the exact same pair that shone in his own eyes, only surrounded by black instead of white.

Naruto's expression was nothing less than triumphant.

Itachi knew a weapons fight was useless at this point. He launched forward his kunai, and Naruto threw one forward to meet and nullify the blade with a coarse clang.

The boy's gaze locked with his, and he cast a quick genjutsu, making it so Itachi was just a bit further to the left. Just as he cast it, he felt the air vibrate with the resonation of chakra as Naruto cast it aside easily. The boy rushed him, cutting underneath with a kick that Itachi saw easily and dodged. Itachi dived backwards, launching a flurry of shuriken at unparalleled speed.

At least, unparalleled by anyone but _this _boy. Naruto saw it, smirked, and countered them with his own, the clang like the chime of a bell as they both diverted to the sides and embedded themselves in the wooden walls. Naruto and Itachi stood on either side of the room.

"When are you going to get serious, Itachi?" Naruto said, spinning a kunai and leaning on his left leg. Itachi was unphased.

"Your weapons skills are as good as you say," he conceded. He reached into his cloak, and Naruto tensed, watching carefully as Itachi slowly brought out a sheathed blade, and uncovered the steel surface with a flick that sent the scabbard flying in a spin.

"But are they complete?"

"Heh. We'll see!"

Itachi rushed him, and Naruto quickly activated a shunshin, flickering to the weapons rack and pulling a tanto blade out just in time to block Itachi's incoming strike. His strength barely matched the man's, and their blades scraped against one another for one warring moment before Itachi jumped back and swiped at Naruto's side. The boy parried the hit easily, grinning and stepping forward.

The movement in space allowed Naruto to dominate the attacks, putting Itachi on the defensive as he sliced towards Itachi's left - a hit easily countered by the man, but twisted by Naruto in a movement that allowed him to cut and fray the material of Itachi's cloak on his shoulder, sword sliding over sword in an ear-splitting scream of metal.

Itachi jumped back, but tactically took the opening and slashed at Naruto's gut, leaving a gushing wound -

'_No,'_ he thought. '_Genjutsu?'_

He felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Over here," Naruto added helpfully, and Itachi whirled around, bringing down his tanto in a perfectly positioned arc-

"Sorry, Naruto-kun."

Itachi's body exploded.

The Uchiha came at him from behind, but Naruto landed from the explosion with the cushion of a quickly made shadow clone. His sword had flown to the other side of the room, but he met Itachi's jab at his chest with a strike of his palm to the flat edge of the blade that sent it rushing past. Itachi was sent unbalanced, forward, at Naruto's side.

Naruto narrowed his eyes.

'There.'

He struck at the base of the blade with his kunai and Itachi's sword was sent spinning from his grip and skidding across the stone. He landed on the ground with a grace only he could have retained, and eyed Naruto with a small smile.

The boy lifted Itachi's tanto and pointed its tip at Itachi's sternum. His grin was devious.

"I win, Itachi-senpai!"

Itachi closed his eyes, conceding the victory to Naruto, and Naruto lowered the sword, dropped it, and smirked.

"Impressive," Itachi said. "Consider this little spar my farewell gift, then, Naruto."

Naruto nodded, and offered Itachi his hand. The man took it, stood up, and took his tanto from the floor.

'_What an exceptional child,' _Itachi thought absent-mindedly, ascending the stairs with his eyes locked on Naruto's back. '_With power like that… I can only hope he truly understands the risks and consequences of walking the path of shadows.'_

"Naruto-kohaaaaai!"

"Deidara-senpaaaai!"

Itachi frowned.

'_And that is something I very much doubt.'_

Deidara sprinted forward to the boy and clutched him to his chest, the pair of them crying steady streams of tears.

"Oh, my Naruto-kohai," Deidara lamented, holding him to his chest. "There is no other loser in this entire organization that truly understands my art! Will you write me?"

"Do you even have to ask?"

"Yes! And remember…" Deidara took a deep breath, tears rolling down his cheeks and in perfect unison with Naruto, pointed his index finger and cried out passionately:

"_Art is an explosion!"_

Hidan sighed, holding his head in his hands. Deidara stepped back, holding Naruto by both shoulders, and wiped his tears.

"Don't forget to practice your sculptures."

Naruto nodded enthusiastically, revealing a sly grin.

"And I have one last thing for you, my faithful student," Deidara continued, reaching inside of his cloak and pulling out a scroll.

Naruto went to unwind it when Deidara grabbed his hand and shook his head.

"Don't open it here," he said. "It's an industrial size load of clay. Open it when you get to Konoha."

Naruto nodded, wiping the tears from his eyes. "T-Thank you, Deidara-senpai."

"Oi, twerp," Hidan called out. "I got something for you."

As Naruto came over, pulling himself carefully from Deidara's desperate grip, Hidan pulled out a knife from his cloak. It was strangely bent, and Naruto took it carefully, turning it side to side to examine it.

"A sacrificial knife," Hidan said, grinning. "If you don't find a use for it, I will, so make sure you send some bodies over of something. Some Konoha idiots you don't like. I'm sure you'll find someone."

Naruto smiled, and looked at Hidan gratefully. "Thanks."

"Don't go expecting this all the time. It's just because you're leaving, kid."

He smirked.

"Got it."

"Here."

Naruto turned around quickly to see Sasori with a hand outstretched. In his palm was a small vial.

"Poison," he said. "There is no antidote. So don't go spilling it."

Naruto took it with a nod, tucking it into his belt.

"If our contact should fail," Sasori said, "Reach to me through the night-shift bartender at the Servant's Cloth."

Naruto nodded again.

"My resources are at your disposal. I'm sure you understand how it works, so don't fuck things up, or I'll have your other arm. Got it?"

Naruto grinned. "Understood, Master Sasori."

The exchange was interrupted by Kisame smacking into Naruto's back with the force of a freight train. Naruto coughed at the impact, and the man laughed. "Break a leg, kid."

Naruto rubbed his chest, catching his breath after choking at the impact.

"I'll make sure to."

"Gaki," Kakuzu said gruffly. He was hardly the most cuddly of the Akatsuki, but Naruto felt a certain softness in the way he spoke to him.

"Kakuzu," Naruto greeted. The man reached in his coat and drew out a blank sheet of paper.

"I've got something for you too," he admitted. "But not here. Give this to a guy on 23 Yomiyama street. He'll be waiting for you."

Naruto nodded. "Thanks."

Kakuzu grunted in affirmation.

Pein and Konan entered from a side entrance, and the room quietened at their presence.

"Leader," Naruto said, bowing slightly in respect.

The man approached, each footstep echoing loudly, and he motioned to Zetsu, in the corner, with a come hither motion.

"Since you will be remaining in Akatsuki," he said, "we have a gift."

Naruto waited patiently, as Pein turned to Zetsu and nodded. The monochrome man's white half melted away, gloopily forming into what appeared to be an arm. Getting the message, Naruto detached the puppet arm in place of his missing one on his left, and allowed the white clay-like substance to attach itself.

Naruto frowned.

"Zetsu, you've given me two right hands."

A giggle sounded, before Naruto watched as the hand reformed. He quickly looked back up to meet Pein's gaze.

"Zetsu will be your communication with Akatsuki," he said. "He can relay information to Black Zetsu telepathically."

Naruto looked down at his new arm, twisting it experimentally.

"Pain is a powerful thing, Naruto," said the leader of Akatsuki. "It provokes fear and even understanding. It can be a tool for great change, or great destruction. Both are necessary to bring peace to this world. I trust you understand this."

Naruto nodded, his grin dropped in favor of a more solemn expression.

"I do, leader."

"Good. Based on your attire, I infer you are ready to make the journey?"

"Ready as can be." Naruto said confidently. He allowed his Hoshokugan to blossom again, the amber irises glowing ominously as the whites of his eyes bled to a black dark as tar. Then, there was a sound like shattering glass, and they twisted, the gold turning to red, and his eyes forming a perfect mirror of Obito's Sharingan.

Before him, the world twisted as a rend in space blossomed. Through it, he could see blue skies, and through a narrow alleyway into a street of Konoha.

He looked back once at his family, sending them all a smile, before he confidently took a step through the portal, and allowed it to close neatly behind him.

With a grin, the boy stepped into the crowd, and was lost among a sea of people.

Untraceable, undetectable, unpredictable.

Konoha wouldn't know what hit it.

* * *

><p>The day began uneventfully for a certain Uchiha Sasuke. Not as in nothing happened, but simply nothing of note.<p>

His fangirls pestered him on the way in, which for the most part just involved him pretending he didn't have eardrums and walking with his eyes facing directly forward. Making eye contact just gave them false hope.

He was relatively early too, so he sat in his usual spot near the window without too much of an issue, and proceeded to analyse the surroundings quietly over the bridge of his fingers.

Nothing of note, as mentioned.

Until _he_ walked in.

'He' was a kid with dark hair, an infuriating smirk, and an aura of strength about him. His clothes were dark, with a utility belt lined with a couple scrolls, a vial, and a pouch. It was all accentuated by dark pants with a black vest top. He wore black leather gloves a fair way up his forearms, lined with buckles and fastenings, and around his neck hung a black and red necklace.

And although the kid was weird looking - really, he was - the weirdest part about whole affair was when the kid sat down a row in front of him, and despite all the other students filtering in, and surely seeing this bizarre new kid, nobody seemed to notice.

That could have been coincidence, Sasuke reasoned, but as the lessons began and Iruka came in, the boy didn't just sit in his seat; he reclined, looking relaxed and completely uninterested. The boy stared out the window half the time, too, and more and more as time went on he wondered just who the hell this person was and why was no-one else even slightly concerned?

Things came to a boil when Iruka spoke midway through third lesson.

"This is the final shuriken exam we will have before graduation," he said. "Make your best efforts, everyone."

Sasuke grinned. '_My specialty.'_

As they went outside, in an orderly fashion, that boy walked with his hands in his pockets and a slouch in his stride. He didn't keep up with the group entirely, and no-one mentioned anything when he rejoined. Sasuke frowned.

The orderly queue worked alphabetically, so naturally Sasuke was at the back. _He_ was behind him, and if it were not for pride, he would have turned around and grabbed the kid and asked him just who the hell he was.

Instead, Sasuke maintained pride and he remained silent.

When it got to his turn, Sasuke allowed a small smirk, and put on a grand show.

Every shuriken thrown directly hit the targets in the dead-on center; he even bounced a couple off each other to hit the targets he couldn't see, but those hit slightly off-center. That said, Sasuke knew it was no small feat, and predictably everyone cheered. His fangirls screeched, and even Iruka gave him a congratulations and a few encouraging words.

Sasuke allowed himself a small smile.

Then, it melted away.

The _kid_ approached the center, several shuriken in each hand, and jumped. Sasuke watched in shock. This technique... an _Uchiha_ shuriken technique - he'd only ever seen performed by his older brother. Even _he_ had failed to master it.

But that was impossible. No, this had to be some sort of trick. There was just _no way_-

The shuriken bounced off each other with a synchronized clang, and fired towards the targets, each one embedding itself dead center.

Sasuke stared at them in shock.

Not a single other student reacted in the least. No student clapped or congratulated him, or even seemed mildly interested; they all merely continued talking amongst themselves, and Iruka recorded the perfect score without a moment's thought before they went back in.

Sasuke stood alone, still not comprehending what had just happened.

He ended up late for class, and vowed to confront this person - whoever the fuck he was - straight afterwards.

In his seat, Naruto smiled slyly. It had all gone, rather perfectly, according to plan. With a quick application of his genjutsu - Itachi's, actually, and he supposed he should thank him - he had been completely and utterly ignored by everyone. It functioned as an invisibility cloak, but simply by allowing him to blend in. It made him insignificant.

He'd maintained it perfectly on all the people in the classroom but one: Uchiha Sasuke.

Naruto could feel the young Uchiha fuming behind him, his anger stewing quietly. It was a wrath that Naruto looked forward to encountering, if simply to humiliate the boy through his arrogance.

He couldn't stand those types. The arrogant, _expectant_ ones who thought power would just be given to them on a silver platter. They made him _sick_. He thanked Kami that Itachi wasn't here to see what a disgrace his brother had become.

No matter. It was time to prove who _truly_ deserved to carry on the Uchiha name.

The final lesson ended, and Naruto heard the screech of Sasuke's chair as he pushed it back. Naruto grinned, directing a quick genjutsu to the cloud of fangirls on the other side of the room to divert them from their 'discussion'.

Sasuke came up on Naruto's left with an attitude and a scowl.

"Who the hell are you?" Sasuke hissed, "and _what_ are you doing in this class? I've never seen you before in my life."

'_Oh, because it's really to do with that, Uchiha?'_ Naruto thought, sneering internally.

Naruto shrugged, a faint smile playing on his lips. "I was exchanged from Classroom 2B just today. The teachers have more details if you're really that interested."

With that, Naruto stood up, turning his jaw from Sasuke to signal to him that the discussion was over, and he could almost _feel _Sasuke's fists clenching as he raced to Naruto's back.

He pulled on Naruto's hand aggressively by the wrist, yanking the boy forward. Naruto turned towards him, feigning shock and indignance.

"Who taught you to throw shuriken like that?" Sasuke demanded, tightening his grip. "Those are Uchiha techniques."

Naruto suppressed a laugh and gave him an amiable smile.

"Really?" he said innocently. "What a coincidence. I taught myself them from some old scrolls. If you're interested, I could lend you them-"

He was quite abruptly grabbed by the collar and slammed against the window, and he had to resist the urge to kill Sasuke there and then.

"WHO THE HELL _ARE_ YOU?"

Iruka, appearing abruptly, pulled Naruto from Sasuke's grip, separating them and giving Sasuke a sharp look. "Sasuke, you know better than to go around bullying other students," he reprimanded. "That's disappointing. Especially after you did so well today in the shuriken test."

"He did better than me," Sasuke bit out, "And I don't even know who he is!"

Iruka rolled his eyes. "Nonsense, Sasuke. Now please apologize."

Sasuke glowered at the man and Naruto. The other boy kept a perfectly calm expression, whereas Iruka raised an eyebrow, folded his arms and waited.

The Uchiha looked at the ground and forced the words out.

"I'm sorry," he bit out.

Naruto smiled kindly. "It's fine, Sasuke," he said gently. "I hope I didn't say anything to upset you."

Sasuke couldn't even bring himself to respond.

With Iruka pacified, Naruto walked away, and Sasuke watched with a barely-controlled degree of anger and shock as he blended into the crowd and disappeared.

Walking casually through the crowds, Naruto stepped into an alleyway and allowed himself an unrestrained bout of laughter. Oh, how embarrassing. It almost made him feel a bit sorry for the poor sod.

With a quick casting of genjutsu, Naruto undid his glove and brought the Zetsu arm to his face.

"Zetsu," he said, and the arm stirred, revealing a pair of eyes. "Let me speak to Pein."

An eye appeared on the back of the hand and blinked, before the arm spoke in a voice alien to the being; the smooth tenor of the Leader.

"How is the infiltration proceeding, Uzumaki?"

Naruto snorted. "Piece of cake. Konoha nin are either brain-dead or just don't care; no-one's noticed. Or," he grinned, "I could just be that good."

"Don't get complacent," Pein warned. "That aside, contact us if the situation changes."

"Got it."

The contact ended, and Naruto yawned, stretched, and decided, reaching for the white piece of paper in his pocket, to go have a look for 23 Yomiyama Street.

* * *

><p>23 Yomiyama Street had been a far, far more exciting endeavour than Naruto could have guessed.<p>

Waiting for him there, in the crook of a concealed alleyway, was a casual looking man, who - upon being handed the paper - nodded, and motioned for Naruto to follow him.

He was lead further down the street, until he reached the corner. Adjacent, Naruto noticed a large block of homes, and the walls surrounding them emblazoned with the Uchiha crest. And then, he was met with a very, very large home, just opposite.

For a moment, he stared, looking at the house and then back to the man.

"This is mine?" he asked again, and the man rolled his eyes.

"Yes. Now, is that all?"

Naruto nodded absent-mindedly, still entirely absorbed by the mansion, and the man sidled off in his peripheral vision.

"Opposite the Uchiha complex, huh?" Naruto whispered, a grin encroaching onto his features. He laughed.

"Kakuzu, you rat _bastard_!"

The house was spacious, to say the least, but one of the first - and best - things Naruto encountered was in the basement. Upon attempting to get into the basement, he found himself subject to an odd corridor of seals, and after a moment of them glowing ominously, the door opened. But pinned onto it, in Kakuzu's scrawl, was a note that read:

"_Byakugan, Sharingan, and sensor proof. Along with sound, obviously. The place has basically got a fucking forcefield so you don't destroy the house with some stupid jutsu you're trying to invent. You're fucking welcome._"

The bedroom was nice, and sparse, which made Naruto think Kakuzu had actually paid attention to Naruto's taste. The walls were lined with shelves, some filled with scrolls that looked interesting.

Naruto took off his belt, stretched, and left it on the double bed.

There were three bathrooms, one in the servant's quarters, another downstairs, and one upstairs. That and there was actually a servant's _quarters_, and several extra bedrooms varying in size and decor.

"I could house an entire clan in here." Naruto found himself muttering, as he took in the building.

There was also a nice garden, which Naruto had no idea how to maintain, but he supposed he could learn. The kitchen was lavish, with a ton of equipment Naruto had never seen - let alone knew how to use. He hoped that would come with time, and hopefully not fiery accidents.

Naruto had encountered last, a walk in closet relatively filled with boxes. He rolled his eyes, wondering whether they were just left by the previous tenants, when he opened them up and-

"Holy shit," he whispered, gaping shamelessly. "Money. It's all fucking money."

Naruto praised God, Kakuzu, and everything in between.

After taking in the home with a fair degree of awe and gratefulness, Naruto laid down on his bed, and wondered, somewhat devilishly, just how many sweaty nights he would spend on this bed.

Sleep came.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: Be sure to leave a review. Don't forget, this will be a Konoha bashing story, so Naruto will be 'taking care' of some problems, and some certain**_ **people**_**, in the future. ;) How he does though, you'll have to wait and see. As always, flamers will be ignored.**_

_**Lord Electric signing off. Ciao!**_


	3. Chapter 2

The morning began with birds. Naruto could hear the call of a uguisubari, twittering softly in the shade, and yawned, rubbing his eyes and rolling his shoulders.

It had been a fantastic sleep - perhaps the best he'd ever had. That could be down to the stony beds of the Akatsuki, but he still made note to thank Kakuzu for the most luxurious bed on the market. At least, it felt like it.

He hooked his legs off the bed, feet bristling at the cold floorboards, and walked over to the large, mahogany wardrobe. Opening it, he blinked.

Hung up perfectly were several sets of his favourite clothing combination. Black leather gloves that buckled at the elbows, ANBU grade black sleeved vests, with pants, utility belts and pouches, all in a deep, dark red.

Naruto grinned. He'd had no clue Kakuzu had such an eye for what Naruto liked, but he obviously did. He guessed a quiet disposition didn't say everything about a guy like that - especially not an S-rank criminal.

Smile still on his lips, he pulled out a hanger over and made to get dressed, looking outside. The city was quiet, just awakening; Naruto made it to be 6, but he hadn't spent an awful lot of time outside in the Akatsuki or in Madara's care. The darkness served them just fine, so he wasn't the best at judging the time.

The test today, Naruto remembered. It probably wasn't even worth remembering, all things considered. Konoha was one of the worst for its graduation tests - bunshin, kawarimi? There were basics, and then there were basics. It was no wonder they managed to power out so many average ninja.

With tests came team assignments, Naruto remembered, and he barely managed to push down a grin at the thought of Sasuke's face if they ended up on the same team. That arrogant prick probably thought he was better than Naruto.

The kid had absolutely no damn idea.

After pulling on his gloves, getting dressed, and filling up on his supplies, Naruto left the house and made to cast a blending genjutsu once again.

Walking through the streets reminded Naruto of just how much Konoha disgusted him. After so many visits to Amegakure, a place where the streets were efficient and clean-cut, he could barely stand the nonsensical design of the streets of Konoha. They were winding, irregular, and seemingly built around the paths people chose to walk.

The Uzumaki had known better than that. People should not guide the structure of the streets; rather, the structure of the streets should guide the people. What foolish town would bother with basing it around the whims of civilians? Did they know nothing of efficiency, of what it meant to be ninja?

Naruto stopped abruptly, narrowly avoiding a cart of tomatoes that barged in front of him from around a crooked corner. He frowned. 'How nonsensical.'

His tormented train of thoughts trailing away, Naruto reached the Academy at a leisurely speed, and kept his eyes peeled for any interesting girls.

'After all,' he thought gleefully, eyeing one dressed in lilac, 'a house that big was not meant to be lived in alone.'

The girl turned, walking into the academy, and Naruto picked up his pace slightly to keep her in sight. She turned the corner, and he caught sight of her milky white eyes.

'Byakugan. Perfect.'

With his genjutsu still cast, he allowed his eyes to run over the girl's figure with a discerning eye. Top-heavy, lithe, and likely still developing, but one of the furthest in growth of all the girls her age. Naturally, since girls matured earlier.

He decided she would do, and allowed the genjutsu to fall away from Hinata's perception. She caught his gaze for a moment, before turning away abruptly with a blush.

Naruto grinned. Even he knew what that meant. But that said, he sighed, he really didn't plan for Konoha to be around long enough for him to be taking time to seduce girls with long courting rituals. He had no doubt he could do it, surely, but Naruto didn't really consider himself a man of honour, and there were always shortcuts.

Casting the genjutsu again quietly, he allowed his eyes to twist into Itachi's Sharingan, and made to adjust over Hinata just a smidge before he moved over to her and allowed her knowledge of his presence.

Hinata saw that boy again, and felt her cheeks flush, her body becoming hotter as he locked eyes with her. Her thoughts tore straight off the rails of 'Who is the new student' and onto his very blue eyes, broad cut shoulders, and devious smile. She found herself dry mouthed, and her eyes wandering to the folds of fabric that alluded to the abs below his top. She blinked suddenly, drawing her eyes back up to his and blushing to her ears in embarrassment. He had to have noticed _that_.

"H-Hello," she stuttered, unable to say much else.

He leaned down, putting an elbow on her desk and bending over to rest his fist under his jaw.

"What's your name?" he said, the glint of his eyes and curl of his lips the perfect charm that sent Hinata stuttering and blushing all over again.

"H-H-Hinata Hyuga," she blurted out quickly, clasping a hand to her mouth. Why was she so nervous? Who even was he? But did it even matter, when he was just so-

The boy leaned back, rolling his shoulders and sitting on her desk to look down at her. His arms rippled with the motion. He let her see a broad alluring smile.

"My, that's a beautiful name," he purred, leaning down a little and brushing away a long strand of stray black hair. "Who gave you it?"

"Hiashi Hyuga," she whispered, feeling absorbed by his gaze and utterly weak at the knees. She was so glad she wasn't standing right now. She would have either collapsed or fainted.

'A future clan head,' Naruto thought, pleased. 'Power at the ready. Might take a while for her to get there, but there are always ways of speeding that up.'

Naruto looked away briefly, and Hinata exhaled deeply, feeling as though her breath had been stolen just by his gaze. Who was this boy?

The boy looked at the people filtering in - in specific, Sasuke Uchiha, who proceeded to give him a glare that could have frozen Hell. Naruto fought to suppress a sneer.

'Showing your emotions so openly as a ninja will only leave you dead, Sasuke Uchiha,' he thought. 'I hope I may have the pleasure of doing it myself.'

After a brief clash of gazes, Naruto snorted derisively at the boy and moved to take a seat next to Hinata, who was still blushing profusely at his presence. He shrugged, wrapping an arm around the girl to pull her closer. Pretty girls were always nice to have around, after all, and Hinata wasn't just compliant, but utterly infatuated with him.

'All according to plan,' Naruto thought. And it was.

At least, until the door had slid open to reveal a girl.

Although she did look rather remarkable, that wasn't what was so special about her. Naruto's eyes drifted to her impressively flat chest, her hair, grey and tied into two long pigtails. Her clothes reminded him of his, with a dark blue vest, black pants, and a blue scarf around her neck. Her eyes were a dark violet, and his eyes finally came to rest on the bottom half of her face; at least, they would have, if it hadn't been covered by blue material. Blue material marked with three black bands on each cheek.

He frowned, and, ensuring the genjutsu was secure, activated the Byakugan with a shattering crack.

They were on her cheeks. They were _there_. Three lines on each cheek. Naruto lifted his fingers, tracing the ones marked on his own cheeks - still slight scars in his skin, despite the light genjutsu cast upon them. The mark of being birthed to a container.

The mark of being birthed to Kushina Uzumaki.

The realisation hit him like a ton of bricks.

'No. No way,' he thought, watching her every movement. 'There's absolutely no way. They would have told me. That's impossible.'

Iruka interrupted his thoughts.

"Ah, Akina," he said cordially. "Back from your trip then?"

The girl regarded him, staring at him for a long moment with large violet eyes before she nodded slowly. In her movement, she eyed Naruto with suspicion, before she made her way deliberately to the seat beside Sasuke, pushing aside the girl who had been sitting there. Sakura, in the corner of the room, fumed at having her hard won seat stolen.

'Shit,' Naruto thought, feeling like an idiot for letting the genjutsu waver slightly. 'She saw me.'

He quickly reconstructed it, keeping an eye on the girl and falling deep into thought until his name was called.

"Torami Nobuko!"

He stretched, standing up and rolling his left shoulder. He winked at Hinata.

"Wish me luck," he said with a smile, and she nodded fervently with a blush heating her cheeks more still.

"O-Of course!"

He could feel her eyes boring into his as he walked into the exam room, until the door closed behind him.

Just doing the Bunshin technique was an embarrassing experience, but the combination of him having not done anything so low-level in terms of chakra consumption in a long time and being in an absolutely foul mood meant that he actually almost screwed it up. That said, if he had done, Naruto probably would have just killed the examiners and took the headband anyway. And never, ever mentioned it to Itachi, or any of the Akatsuki for that matter. Ever.

Leaving the room, he waited patiently for Hinata outside, made sure to cloak his presence and hide behind a corner just in case, and speak into Zetsu. Sasori's eerily young voice came out.

"Naruto. What is it you require?"

"So," Naruto said, his seething rage burning through every word, "Why the hell wasn't I told about this?"

"This?"

"You know what!" Naruto roared. "That GIRL!"

There was a sigh. "Madara's orders. He wanted you to find out about her yourself when you arrived."

Naruto closed his eyes, trying to soothe his temper. It was easier said than done, but at least it was Madara. He trusted him more than he did anyone else in this god-forsaken world.

"Dammit," he said, frowning. "So who the hell's the father?"

"You'll see soon enough."

Naruto cut off the communication, feeling on edge and irritated, as the girl herself walked out of the building with Sasuke at her side. He attempted to reign in his anger, and heard a faint snippet of their discussion.

"I'm sure they'll pass you regardless. It's not like the Bunshin's that useful anyway." Oddly, Sasuke's tone sounded like it was making an attempt at being reassuring. That was new, but Naruto had his doubts about something like that boy doing anything that wasn't just in his own interests.

The girl grumbled back with an embarrassed tone to her voice. "It's humiliating."

He let the genjutsu fall apart around him. It was just becoming irritating, now. Naruto'd just prefer to go sabotage a few records and hypnotise a few teachers; after all, it was just too fun to get on Sasuke's nerves. He discretely made a shadow clone for the purpose, and sent it on its way.

The girl at Sasuke's side turned and eyed him suspiciously.

"You," she said. "Who are you?"

He noted Sasuke's fists clenching at the side, but the boy wasn't looking at him. He was looking at Akina, and Naruto twitched with realisation. 'Is there something going on there?'

"You heard the teacher. It's Torami," Naruto said, grinning a little.

'Well, if there is something going in there, then let's have a little fun...'

Akina quickly felt the pit of her gut stir with hotness, her knees wobble a little, and herself drawn inexplicably to the boy before her. 'What the hell is this?'

She shook her head, shooting the boy a glare, before grabbing Sasuke by the wrist.

"Let's go."

"Hn."

Naruto watched, nothing short of flabbergasted, as she walked away unaffected, with that scumbag at her side.

What the hell was this? When the hell had his genjutsu fell flat?!

"Damn her," he muttered. "Damn her, and damn Sasuke to hell, too."

He felt Hinata arriving to his right, exiting the exam hall. Naruto turned towards her, feeling with light with confidence.

"T-Torami-kun?"

With an 'eep' and a blush, she felt herself swept into a strong pair of arms. She blushed at the proximity - his chest felt hard, and her head felt light.

"Hello Hinata," Naruto said, a winning smile on his face as he looked down on her. "You finished the exam?"

"Y… Y-Yes!"

Naruto shifted her in his arms, carrying her like a bride, and winked.

"Great," he said. "Let's have lunch together."

And with that, he leaped from the ground onto the roof, running at an unbelievable speed. Hinata shrieked, every thought of being lady-like fluttering out of her head with the adrenaline and pure fear as she sailed through the air. She clutched his chest, squeezing her eyes shut, and yet, in those arms, she somehow still felt safe.

They came to a stop, and he lowered her onto her feet so gently she felt like she'd been brought down by angels. She blinked at the establishment before her.

It was fancy restaurant. Not just that, but a very, very fancy one. She'd only ever been here when her father was meeting with ambassadors from the other Villages, and even then it was a rare occasion.

"Enjoy the ride?" he said, intervening in her awe, and Hinata nodded slowly, eyes still locked on the restaurant. It was very, very high-end.

"Well," he continued, "as long as you're not feeling motion-sick, let's eat, Hinata-chan."

The endearment sent her red with embarrassment right to the tips of her ears, and she stuttered, but managed to pull on his arm.

"A-Are you sure?" Hinata asked, eyebrows knotting. "This is very… this place is very e-expensive…"

He smiled down at her, blue eyes captivating her, and walked in before she could say anything further. They waited at the front for a waiter.

"Nah, it's fine," he said, running a hand through his dark hair. "Got a crabby uncle who's kinda loaded. He _is_ crabby, but he's nice, and I'm kinda well-off right now."

Hinata looked up at him, before reluctantly conceding. "I… If you say so."

A waiter came up to them, bowing deeply and looking at Hinata with a smile.

"Ah, how wonderful to see you again, Miss Hinata," he said respectfully, before turning his gaze to Naruto with a barely concealed frown. "I, ah, am somewhat unfamiliar with this guest of yours-"

"It's Torami," Naruto said, charisma exuding from his smile. "Think you could scrounge us up a table for two?"

The man nodded.

"Of course, sir. We will be with you shortly."

Naruto quickly moved towards the man, taking his hand and pressing something into it before whispering into his ear.

"Perhaps you would be able to find us somewhere a little bit more private?"

The man felt for the bright gold yen in his hand, before smiling mischievously and motioning for the two to follow him.

"Right this way, Sir, Madam."

Hinata blinked at him, following him with quick uncertain steps whilst Naruto walked as though he'd ate at this restaurant every day of his life. As they made it towards the back, the waiter turned left, pulling apart a pair of blue velvet curtains to unveil a room Hinata had never seen in her life.

The restaurant, a homely yet sophisticated gold and wooden theme, made way for a room that was cast in dim, softly violet lighting. The floor was polished black marble, the tables perfectly carved granite that came up from bases of silver. The seats were cushioned with a marvellous blue velvet, each table lined with wine glasses and expensive looking bottles in their centers. At the center of the room, violet-white light poured through a chandelier of gold and glass, the gold entwining with hanging cuts of glass like vines. It was nothing short of exquisite, and Hinata drew a hand to her mouth, overwhelmed.

"I-It's beautiful," she whispered, and Naruto smiled at her as they were guided by the waiter.

They were sat at a table with a curved velvet couch for two at the wall, the bartender not far to their left and a pianist dressed in blue playing soft music on the other side of the room.

After Hinata got over the initial shock of such a beautiful, hidden place - and the inner wonder at just how Torami had gained access - the conversation turned to food. Hinata ordered a red bean soup for starters, and Naruto poured them wine, which she found herself unable to refuse besides her better sense to do so.

"Have you ever had wine before?" Naruto asked pouring his glass after hers delicately.

Hinata shook her head, and Naruto laughed, but not patronisingly.

"Me neither," he said, and he raised his glass to hers, nodding encouragingly at her. She caught on, and they clinked glasses, taking a sip.

As they set the glasses down, Naruto stared at the substance with a hard look.

"You know, I don't know why everyone pretends they can taste the difference between wines," he sighed. "They all taste the same."

Hinata blinked, and then giggled.

The conversation moved towards Hinata herself somehow, which was something that stumped her because she had so little to say. But Torami, with his fantastic and charming words, managed to weasel the information out of her with his careful questions. It amazed her.

"And what about friends?" he continued. Hinata stopped, looking down into the plate of her finished main. It had been Kobe steak, and absolutely gorgeous, but she suddenly felt somewhat sick.

"I…I don't really have any," she got out. Naruto blinked, his eyes so deep and genuine and honestly interested in her that for once in her life, Hinata couldn't help but talk about herself.

"A gentle and pretty girl like you?" Naruto said, looking confused and concerned. "How could that be?"

She felt her hands tremble in her lap, and she looked down for a moment.

"I-I'm… My f-father doesn't approve of me m-making friends with the p-people in my class."

Naruto frowned. 'Stuck up bastard,' he thought, and then suppressed a look of glee. 'Well, there are ways of dealing with things like that.'

After a moment's more chatter, they got the bill, Naruto leaving a weighty tip before they left. They got outside, walked a little while speaking absent-mindedly with Hinata latched on his arm, before Naruto shot her a dazzling smile with eyes she could not refuse.

"Do you want to see my place?"

Hinata blinked, blushing. "I-If that's alright, then… m-maybe, yes."

Knowing Hinata well enough over the past day to take that as a firm agreement, Naruto swept her up in his arms and shunshined quickly to his home. She appeared dizzy from the movement, before looking around in awe at the large place.

"How large is your family?" she asked curiously, peering up the staircase to the large upstairs. The delay in his answer caused her to turn back her head to him, and he rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, I'm an orphan, actually."

Hinata regretted asking almost instantly.

"My father passed away shortly after I was born, and my mother…"

In an instant Hinata did not catch through the fluctuating genjutsu surrounding Naruto, his eyes flashed a dangerous amber.

"...she's dead to me, as well."

She didn't catch onto it, and her tone was sympathetic and hesitant. "That's… That's horrible…"

And to her, it was; she couldn't imagine the loneliness of an empty home, especially after all those years of living with family and extended family all in close proximity. Naruto passed over the notion though, smiling at her gently.

"It's not all bad," he reassured her. "I've got a lot of friends who keep me company. Although, at the moment, I'm living here alone, so there's plenty of unused bedrooms and space and stuff…"

Naruto smirked slightly.

'Not for long,' he thought. 'Based on the girls I saw at the academy, this place should be getting a couple more residents pretty soon.'

Hinata blinked, squinting slightly at the shimmering light of an extravagant chandelier, her posture curling in on itself from nervousness. She blushed, burying her blushing red cheeks in the furred collar of her jacket. "I-I see…"

Naruto turned to her with a wink, bring his arm around her and pulling her to his chest with a wink and a light laugh. "Do you want a tour, Hinata-chan?"

"I-I… If you wouldn't m-mind…" she squeaked, and he grinned, relinquishing his grip on her, but not before he let his calloused fingers trail in an arc on Hinata's back.

She shivered.

Naruto guided her around the house, and she followed in tip-toeing steps. She was struck in awe at the entrancing guest rooms, decorated in lush shabby chic and cluttered with gorgeous decor, at the bathrooms, with perhaps the largest bath she had ever seen; and then, most certainly, Hinata was taken by Naruto, who drew her closer with every moment she looked at him and every painful moment she spent looking away from him.

She came to the master bedroom. It was large, and spacious, but comfortable. If Hinata had imagined the room of the charming, nigh-supernatural man she had spoke to that evening, this would have been the spitting image. The walls were covered in shelves and scrolls, and she gasped when she felt Naruto's warm secure hands on her shoulders. His breath was warm in her ear.

"I'm sorry, I never offered to take your jacket, did I?" Naruto murmured in her ear, bringing down the zip of her coat and peeling it off of her shoulders before she could utter a word, disappearing down the hall to put it in the cloak closet.

Hinata moved to Naruto's bed curiously. The covers were black, but on top was a layer of black silk, embroidered with some sort of orange swirls at the top. It felt expensive, beneath her fingers.

"Hinata-"

It occurred to her very, very suddenly, and prompted by Naruto's wandering gaze, that Hinata didn't usually wear anything barring her fishnet shirt beneath her jacket. She blinked, blushed, and yelped, pulling the silken blankets up with a sudden yelp to cover her chest.

"I-I'm sorry!" she squeaked. "I-I just f-f-forgot-!"

Naruto was at her side in an instant, whispering reassurances into her ear as she tried to calm her breathing and keep her modesty in tact.

"Sorry, I didn't notice," he said. "Is the blanket alright for now?"

Hinata gulped, trying to push down her blush, and nodded. She felt almost-tears coming up; she couldn't ever remember being so embarrassed in her whole life.

"Here," he said, motioning to the bed, "A massage should calm you down."

Although she was hesitant at first, one look into his beautiful eyes and she couldn't help but nod, leaning over to lie down on her front.

Naruto couldn't help but stare, mesmerised, at Hinata lying down. As she lowered herself onto the bed and let the silk fall loose, her breasts pressed innocently into the blankets but, due to their size, ended up spilling out of the sides of her frame. He could see the round, pale outline of her chest, and her eyes were peacefully closed. She was so _pure._

He smirked, and hoisted his leg onto the other side of the bed, and sat down gently onto the small of Hinata's back. She gasped at the sudden contact, and Naruto felt a rush of pleasure run through him at the noise.

"Is this okay?" he asked quietly, and Hinata opened her pearlescent eyes and nodded slowly.

Naruto leaned forward, taking hold of the top of Hinata's shoulders and kneading the soft flesh there. She let out a sigh; he smirked, circling his fingers gently into the soft white skin there whilst pushing his thumbs in careful patterns closer to the centre of her back. She gasped as he began to move lower, her pert lips parting in a momentary lack of control.

"Sorry if I'm no good," he said again, the sight of her exposed, vulnerable expression sending his knees near weak with excitement. "I'm not too great with my hands."

He folded his hands into a fist, kneading his knuckles gently into the tense muscle at the small of her back. Hinata moaned deeply.

"I-It's… f-f-fine, Torami-kun-ah!"

His toes curled, and Naruto leaned over to bring a finger to her jawline, pulling her gaze towards his.

"Hinata-chan," he said. "Would you mind if I took your shirt off? I promise I won't look, it's just getting in the way."

Hinata nodded, lifting herself up. As she moved, her breasts bounced, and she reached down to pull up her shirt when Naruto dug his fingers beneath the hem himself and looked at her with a barely-controlled flash of desire in his eyes.

"I'll do it, Hinata-chan," he said, pulling the material over her chest slowly. His hands brushed against the sensitive soft yet supple skin of her breast, and she let out a breathy gasp. She reached behind her to clasp Naruto's thigh tightly.

"Torami-kun," she breathed, face red with an entirely different kind of blush, "would you-"

"Take you?" he quipped, leaning forward to turn her over with a look of predator on prey.

He wouldn't call himself an impatient man, but when Naruto wanted something, he wanted it _now. _When it was a pure, unblemished Hyuuga girl with the body of a goddess?

"Most _certainly, _Hinata-chan."

Now _that _was another matter entirely.

(Scene Break)

The morning broke with the soft scent of green tea, and lavender. Naruto blinked at his ceiling, leaning up to stretch.

The side of the bed was very carefully made; the night before came back suddenly, and Naruto smiled at the memory. Hinata's body was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, even more so when it was-

"N-Naruto-kun…"

Said girl was in his room now, wearing a loose white yukata with a white tray in her hands. There was a gentle clinking of porcelain as her hands shook, and Naruto took it for her hands and set it on the bed with a grateful smile.

"Did you make this?" he said, motioning to the small cups of green tea and small bowls of rice, accompanied by two servings of miso soup. She blushed, hair loose about her face, and Naruto grinned, taking the bowl of rice and his chopsticks and thanking her before digging in.

"For you," she added. "Because l-l-last night, was, w-well-"

Naruto, halfway through a gulp of tea, shot her a wink. She blushed and choked.

After having eaten peacefully together, Naruto began getting dressed, and Hinata gasped when she saw her clothes.

"Hinata-chan?"

"I-I didn't even go home last night," she gasped. "My father will be-"

"Fine," Naruto cut in, capturing her with a brief glance of the Hoshokugan. "Don't worry. Leave it to me."

Hinata's look of instant panic and worry melded into a calmer, more tranquil look, and she nodded.

"What about my clothes? They're-"

"I'll wash them in time. Stop worrying, Hinata-chan."

Things _were_ fine. Hiashi Hyuga had had a lovely night with his daughter before the graduation ceremony, as did everyone else in the clan, and with a quick use of some clever water jutsu that extracted water from the environment (a jutsu which, Itachi informed Naruto, came of great use during long desert voyages), Hinata's clothes were washed and dried in reasonable time.

They went on their merry way to the academy together, hand in hand, and Naruto wondered what unlucky bastard would end up at his side.

(Scene Break)

The seating was strategic as always.

Akina was not here yet, it seemed. Did she make a habit of being late, he wondered? Either way, Naruto decided that it would cost not only her, but Sasuke, and he plopped himself snugly down into the seat beside Sasuke. The boy shot him a cold look beyond the steeple of his hands, and Naruto snorted, leaning back into his seat.

"The Hokage will be giving us all a very important speech today," Iruka intoned, standing to the side of the class instead of at his front. He was no less imposing for it. "Behave yourselves and listen carefully."

"Yes, sir."

Naruto caught Sasuke giving him shady looks from the corner of his eye, and couldn't help but smirk. The other boy was cold and callous from what he knew, and it was just so _invigorating _to take him down from his pedestal and smash him into the concrete with the simple reality of _power._ Sasuke's crushed ego was a death in and of itself; Naruto wouldn't tire of how irate Sasuke had become since he'd arrived.

Akina arrived then, settling in front of them. She turned around to Sasuke, smiling at him in a way that made the pit of Naruto's stomach burn, and she opened her mouth to speak when the doors slid open to reveal the Hokage.

White cape, crimson flames, and red habanero hair: there was no mistaking it.

Uzumaki Kushina, Godaime Hokage of Konoha.

Her beauty hadn't wavered; her hair was long, in fact, yet longer now since her youth, pulling up into a knot at the back which still left a long waterfall of hair that ended at the base of her back. Her face was round and feminine, but the look was marred by the bags beneath her eyes that even thick makeup couldn't hide.

Holding hands with her was another man.

Naruto already hated him. With a genjutsu-concealed crash of the Hoshokugan, he made out the slight scarring at the edges of his face from years of wearing masks: this man was ANBU, or at least, ex-ANBU. Strong. Nothing Naruto couldn't take on in a head-to-head fight, but a favourable outcome would be unlikely in a village full of ninja. Not to mention, the ANBU were unpredictable, and very, very experienced.

Naruto's eyes narrowed, and he settled his eyes on this man's face.

'So this is him,' Naruto thought. 'This man is the one.'

"Everyone," Kushina said, her voice a lullaby in and of itself, "My deepest congratulations upon passing your Genin examinations. I am proud to have you as Konoha ninja."

'What, so you can send us off to die? My pleasure, mi'lady.'

"Konohagakure was built off of the sacrifices of the brave to provide a haven for others. A place where not every man had to be a ninja, but could be assured of their protection and welfare. A place where ninja were not sent out as soon as they were old enough to hold a weapon."

Naruto rolled his eyes. 'If Konoha ninja training wasn't so incompetent, that probably wouldn't be an issue anyway.'

"Konohagakure was built to give us a chance, and its existence set an example for the entire world. We made the first steps to an era of peace."

'And yet still no Madara, the co-founder of Konoha. Unsurprising.'

"This village is built on the hard work and sacrifices of each and every ninja that has lived and died with our hitai-ate upon their heads, and the Hokage who have paid the ultimate price. The Shodaime, who single-handedly brought people together to form Konohagakure. The Nidaime, who powered through war and rebellion to construct the working economy we know today. And the Yondaime… who died ceiling away one of the greatest evils this world has ever known. The Kyuubi. Its evil is second only to that of humanity itself. Konoha strives to rid the world of evil, and only with the new generation that carries the torch can we..."

Kushina's eyes ran over the crowd, and stopped suddenly in surprise. For a brief moment, in place of a young black-haired student, she saw _him_. His blond hair and sharp blue eyes were as obvious as they were the day they had met in the academy. Minato Namikaze smiled a soft, sad smile at her.

Then, like he had so many years ago, he blew away into smoke, leaving only the sharply-dressed teenager in his place.

Kushina blinked, her heart still somehow sinking, and she realised that she had trailed off into silence. She coughed. 'God, I must be hallucinating. Dammit, Kushina, you gotta sleep.'

"Uhm, right." She took a deep breath. "As pioneers of the future of shinobi - each and every one of you - follow your dreams, and become great in your own way. Lead us to the brighter future, -tebane!"

The class, perhaps still in the midst of confusion, began clapping slowly, students whispering amongst themselves.

Naruto frowned.

'She looked at me,' he thought. 'Does she recognise me? But that's impossible… No. A coincidence.'

"Thank you for your time, Hokage-sama," Iruka said, bowing respectfully, and the Godaime smiled and left with her partner in hand. The class waved urgently after her, especially the boys; her beauty and kindness were renowned. Their teacher turned to them with a clipboard.

"Right, so, now for your team assignments."

Naruto eyed the boy next to him. Damn, Sasuke would be a downer on any team. He'd definitely be the sort to prioritize himself above teamwork, and screw over any chances at success in the process.

"Team 7," Iruka coughed, scanning the paper. "Sasuke Uchiha."

'Here we go.'

"Akina Uzumaki."

Naruto bit back - well, something. He wasn't sure what the feeling was, but he knew he didn't like it.

"And finally," Iruka said, "Torami Nobuko."

Naruto's stomach dropped.

'This… changes things.'  
><strong><br>A/N: Don't forget to leave a review and follow! I want to see if any of you can guess who Akina's father is. (Don't worry; he'll be getting a little education as well) Next chapter, the bell test!**

**I know. I can't wait for it either. Stay tuned!**

**Ciao.**


	4. Chapter 3

_'This… changes things.'_

Naruto glanced over at his future teammates, using his hidden Sharingan to observe their reactions closely.

Akina looked a bit relieved to be with Sasuke, although she kept sneaking glances over at him out of the corner of her eye. Sasuke didn't seem to know whether to be angry or relieved, so his face was carefully blank as his eyes kept trained on where Iruka stood.

_'Arrogant bastard. You have no idea what's coming to you.'_ Naruto thought with irritation. Somehow, the team didn't strike him as all that bad, but maybe he was just looking forward to imposing a lifetime of pain onto Sasuke. He said a lifetime only because he doubted he'd be letting that cockroach of an Uchiha live when he razed Konoha to the ground.

"Kakashi Hatake will be your Jonin Sensei!" Iruka called. From where he had been sitting next to Kushina in the stands, the man got to a slouched stand, before pulling out a small orange book and leaning against a nearby pillar, the very picture of bored disinterested.

Akina was fuming. She shot a look that could have melted steel over towards her parents. Kushina looked away, anxiously. Kakashi didn't seem to notice at all.

'_Hmmph. At least their daughter can see the obvious favoritism.' _Naruto thought to himself.

'_This might be useful though. After all, I'll need to understand my enemies very well before I can strike.'_

Naruto leaned back in his chair, and relaxed. Sasuke bristled at his side, but continued looking at their new Sensei with apprehension. Naruto wasn't surprised.

_'Going after his daugher? Yeah, this team isn't going to a pleasant place for you, Sasuke Uchiha. I guarantee it.'_

Iruka called out some other unimportant team assignments. Naruto ignored them.

The room fell into the same quiet humming that Naruto had learned signified gossip. Listening intently with hearing accentuated by his Uzumaki heritage, he heard light mutterings from his classmates.

"...figures…"

"Hokage's daughter, she's obviously going to…"

"...they say it's all rigged."

Naruto snorted derisively, eyeing Kakashi and Kushina with equal disdain._ 'For a village that is all about these stupid fucking morals, they could at least stick to them. What a joke.'_

The other mediocre ninja and their sensei filtered out of the room bit by bit. Naruto analyzed the boys in passing to see if they were worth considering. The girls, on the other hand, he inspected in detail to see if they were - well, that was fairly obvious.

When the first couple of teams left, Naruto was fully prepared to leave, and sat upright and at attention, trying to catch Kakashi's eye. The man, however, fully remained engrossed in his adult literature, humming a jaunty tune and occasionally turning the page with a giggle.

Sasuke blinked. Akina was burying her head in her hands, and seemingly making her best efforts to die silently.

Oh, Naruto knew this guy's game. Fine. Whatever. He wouldn't give in first. Naruto had plenty of experience with the waiting game.

That was a lie, Naruto conceded. He had absolutely zero experience with 'the Waiting Game'. But Naruto was a man of necessity, and now he would. Naruto gritted his teeth and took to counting the ceiling tiles.

Each team had made an exit, and eventually the simmering, constant chatter in the room became a terse silence, filled only with the scraping of paper on paper as Kakashi turned the page every minute or so.

Naruto guessed that Akina wouldn't be on speaking grounds with her father right now. Sasuke was an icy prick, and Naruto was - just - just not enough of a loser to speak to Kakashi. Yeah. That was it. Whatever. He was _not _going to give in. He'd die before he lost to a Konoha ninja.

Iruka didn't even bother to excuse himself in the end, awkwardly looking between them, shuffling his papers, and leaving quietly.

There were 231 tiles on the ceiling. Naruto had checked three times.

A bird crowed, and Kakashi looked to his wrist, raising his one visible eyebrow at it. There was no watch there. "Ah! Is that the time?"

Akina lifted her head up to look at Kakashi with a gaze that could have drilled holes through walls. Sasuke said nothing; Naruto breathed in deeply through his nose, and breathed out slowly.

"Well," he said, not taking his eyes away from the erotica for a single moment, "You should have said something. Don't be so docile. I'll be on the roof. Don't be late."

The three of them moved in an awkward cacophony after a long period of silence. Akina stood up first, the legs of her chair screeching against the floor as she slowly rose. She exhaled deeply.

Sasuke walked quietly towards the door, hands in pockets, but had a particularly aggravated look about him.

Naruto cracked his shoulders, before sighing.

He should have known the ANBU were all crazies.

Amazingly, however, Naruto arrived on the roof to absolutely no teacher. Sasuke leaned against the fence, Akina sat on the steps looking bored, and Naruto lay down, hands behind head, looking at the sky.

"Is this a joke?" Sasuke muttered at last.

Akina put her head in her hands and shook her head.

"It's just not funny enough for that."

It really wasn't. Naruto felt _drained. _He could have been on guard for hours in wait of the enemy and felt fine. This was something different altogether. It was like someone had sucked the life out of him. But he was _alive_, and survival, Naruto decided, qualified as a victory in the Waiting Game.

Naruto felt Sasuke's gaze carefully keeping account of Naruto. He snorted. Like he couldn't do anything under his supervision anyway.

"Sorry I'm late!"

Kakashi arrived. Late. Naruto retained every modicum of control he had, and said absolutely nothing. He _hated _this man with every fibre of his being; that was certain.

"You see, a black cat crossed my path and I had to take the long way around, you know?" Kakashi continued. He gave a longing look to his book before he closed it and tucked it into his pouch.

"Well," he said, giving them all a bored and un-attentive look, "we should start with introductions."

Naruto rolled his eyes. 'Introductions?'

The three of them sat in silence, staring straight at Kakashi. The man prompted them to continue.

"You know," he said, "what you like, what you don't like, your hobbies… and your dreams. Things like that."

Again, the three said nothing, until Sasuke, staring over the connected bridge of his hands, raised an eyebrow and offered his answer in a low tone. "You go first."

Kakashi sighed.

"You three are so cold." He adjusted his seating on the fence. It was distinctly unrelaxed and sloppy, Naruto noticed. It could mean one of two things: terrible, terrible ninja training, or complete and utter genius. Naruto knew the one _he _thought it was.

"I don't really want to tell you about what I like and dislike," Kakashi pondered for a moment. "Hobbies? I have plenty… and as for dreams, well, I haven't thought about it."

Naruto had never come so close to losing his composure in his whole life.

"Your turn," Kakashi said, looking at Naruto. The boy snorted.

"I'm Torami Nobuko," he said. "I like wine-tasting and frolicking in large obscure meadows. I don't like sporks or duck-butt hair."

Naruto looked pointedly at Sasuke. The message wasn't hard to get, but, maybe the boy secretly _was_ a spork.

"My hobbies include pretending to be a sunflower and churning butter… and I dream most nights."

Akina turned to him, very, very slowly, and wordlessly communicated an instantaneous _'Are you fucking kidding me right now?'_

Sasuke stared into the distance and waited for it all to end.

Kakashi didn't flinch however, and turned his gaze to the last Uchiha with a bored tone. "And you."

The boy's look darkened. "I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I dislike manipulation and liars, and I don't really like anything."

Naruto rested his jaw on his fist and waited for the end of the brooding ritual.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"I don't have a dream - but I do have an ambition," Sasuke continued. "To revive my clan, and kill a certain man."

'_Itachi? I'm not sure whether to feel amusement or pity.' _Naruto thought. _'A bit of both really.'_

Akina said nothing, looking at him from the corner of her eye, and Kakashi looked as intrigued as someone with set-in-stone bored features really could. It wasn't much, but it was enough.

"And," Kakashi said at last, turning to his daughter, "you."

Naruto perked up now. Akina had been quiet all today. He didn't know whether it was through nervousness, or a lack of care, or whether she was usually like that. It was hard to tell. He didn't know anything about her; what she was like as a ninja, what she liked doing-

Not that he cared. It wasn't like _that. _

Either way, he scuffled forward minutely, at attention for this young girl. Short of stalking her closely, he doubted he'd get more honest information than this. She opened her mouth.

"I don't feel like talking about it."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at her. "Don't you?"

Akina shrugged. "No. Sorry."

Kakashi shrugged, leaning back. "Well," he said, "that's that then, isn't it? Anyway. We have a mission tomorrow."

The three of them stared him again.

"Such an uncurious group," Kakashi sighed. "It's a survival exercise."

Akina narrowed her eyes. "Exercise? We didn't leave the academy to do more exercises."

"It's a little bit more than that," Kakashi whispered. "It's got a 33% pass rate, and if you fail, you get sent back to the academy."

Naruto blinked.

"_What?_ How the hell does the academy manage to produce ninja if we're only allowing 9 graduates through each year?"

"It is how it is," Kakashi said, shrugging. "Quality over the common fodder ninja, I guess. Either way, bring all of your tools. We begin at 5AM. Any questions?"

The three of them stood in a blunt silence.

Naruto looked at the other two - there was a worry, in their tense posture and muscles. He didn't really have any doubt about it at all. After all, it wouldn't matter if typical ninja like them dropped out.

"One question, actually."

The two ninja turned to Naruto. The boy looked Kakashi in the eye.

"Why are you showing such blatant favoritism towards your daughter?"

The silence was tangible, and Kakashi raised an eyebrow, leaning forward to maintain a strong condescending eye contact with the young boy.

"The real question is," Kakashi sang, "why are _you _such a blatant enemy spy?"

Naruto froze.

'_There's… there's no way,_' he thought. '_How the hell could he have- in such little time- he's-!_'

"What?" Naruto quipped. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Kakashi hummed, placing a finger on his chin. "Well, I've never seen you in that class before. You also arrived on this team without any real notice. Now, why _is _that, I wonder?"

Naruto felt his heart trembling in his chest, and his hands shaking very slightly.

"I transferred," he said, pushing back a stammer but being unable to avoid a prolonged pause. "From 2C."

Kakashi's appraising stare sent shivers up Naruto's spine. It was like being watched by an owl as a tiny juicy mouse. He waited a long moment.

Kakashi sat back, tucked his hands in his pockets, and smiled light-heartedly. "Ah, that explains it, then."

Naruto let out a deep breath slowly through his nose, feeling his shoulders relax, and he watched the man carefully as he looked across the three genin.

'_This man,'_ Naruto thought_. 'He's dangerous, and too sharp by a half. I need to be careful.'_

"As I said, 5AM tomorrow. Don't bother eating breakfast, you'll just throw up."

Kakashi whipped out his book, engrossed himself in the page, and lifted a hand. "Bye-bye."

He disappeared quickly, with a whirl of leaves. Naruto rolled his eyes. _'Pretentious ass. Walking probably would have been easier anyway.'_

After the leaves had settled, Naruto stood up, cracking his back, and eyed the young girl at his side. She looked to be deep in thought, and was scowling somewhat.

He offered her his hand to her, employing a charming curl of the lips.

Akina looked up at him. Naruto really didn't have time for such a stubborn nature, but he was a sucker for the forbidden fruit. Painfully aware of Sasuke's probing gaze upon him, Naruto disguised his eyes and allowed Akina a flash of the Hoshokugan, the Mangekyo spinning a fantastic distortion of her reality.

Her expression softened from a scowl to more of a soft, observing look. Her lips parted, but she said nothing, expression twisting as though in soft recognition of a mistake. It was a soft, sweet look on her, but she _still _didn't say anything, and she still didn't make a move to take his hand.

"Akina-chan?" Naruto intoned smoothly, his voice humming with charm.

Akina was abruptly yanked back by Sasuke's hand on her arm. The Uchiha gave Naruto an irrefutable scowl.

"Akina," Sasuke said, locking gazes with Akina and giving her a raise of the eyebrows. "We were going to leave, remember?"

The girl looked at Sasuke, wide-eyed and confused, before she blinked slowly, turning back to give Naruto an appraising glance before nodding. Sasuke relinquished his grip on her arm, and Akina began walking towards the steps.

Sasuke took a single step before he turned his head to Naruto with a murderous look, and he grabbed the material of Naruto's shirt and yanked the boy forward. The Uzumaki merely raised his eyebrow, and he was rewarded with Sasuke's tightening jaw and a sharp pull on his shirt.

"I _will _expose you," he hissed, breath warm on Naruto's face. "And if you dare try to pull that on Akina again, I'll sacrifice my standing as a ninja of Konoha to kill you where you stand. Whether you're meant to be my teammate or not."

Naruto eyed him, looking bored. "Yes, Sasuke Uchiha."

Sasuke threw the boy backwards, aiming to throw him to the ground, but Naruto dug into the graveled roof with his heel.

"Are we done here?" Naruto asked with a questioning eyebrow, adjusting his clothing. Sasuke clenched his fists, and felt himself tremble with anger, but denied it control over him. He walked over to Akina, grabbed her by the wrist, and turned away, determined not to give Torami another second of his time.

Naruto couldn't help but laugh. He put his hands in his pockets, took in a deep breath of the summer's air, and thought about what he'd do today.

Well, he could go train in his private room. Naruto was curious what sorts of goodies were waiting to be found in there. Or, he could go find a girl to toy around with. Hinata was ripe for the picking, but he just didn't feel like it.

Cracking his neck, Naruto let a smile crawl onto his face, and he unbound his hand to reveal the white construction that was Zetsu. It morphed to reveal the slit of a smile and an uncanny grin.2

"How can I help you, Naruto great and powerful?" Zetsu snickered, before his voice filtered into a drawling moan. "Man, it's been stuffy and boring here. You haven't killed a single person since we got here."

Naruto sighed at the pseudo-pout on the clay-like arm, but allowed a slight grin to show as he brought the arm up to his mouth, eyes curling in amusement.

"That might be changing _very_ soon, Zetsu," he whispered. "Now, what do you know about the Hyuuga patriarch?"

Zetsu's lips contorted into an unsettling smile.

* * *

><p>The scenery outside of the Hyuuga compound was what one would expect on the outskirts of town. Houses littered the street, but it was relatively close to the village's training grounds, and nature and growth were rife and whispering like hushed children in the night.<p>

Koichi and Momoko Hyuuga sat at their station at the outside of the Hyuuga compound. Both fairly experienced in their patrols, Koichi in particular, they had their Byakugan activated. It was, however, a less focused and intricate view than most, a fuzzy overview of the whole area that meant their job was a whole lot easier. It did mean, however, that the shifts were shorter, and you tended to be very tired afterwards. They were experienced in their work together, however, and tended to take this long shift each night. So, Koichi supposed, the silence between them was comfortable.

Momoko smoked. Heavily. Koichi didn't even think she was _allowed _to smoke right now, but she did anyway, and as she so eloquently put it, _'no stuck-up main house Hyuuga is going to tell me what's what when I'm the one out here every damn night'._

He liked Momoko. She was very laid back.

Despite his experience, Koichi had his suspicions that Momoko was better at the job. It was a little irritating, but mostly useful. It took a bit of weight off his shoulders, and that was always good.

Leaning against the wall, Momoko's gaze suddenly narrowed. She withdrew the cigarette from her mouth and twisted it into the chalky stone of the wall.

Koichi raised an eyebrow.

"What is it?"

Momoko reached down to her thigh, pulling her finger through the loop of a single kunai. She didn't turn to Koichi.

"Someone's coming," she said.

Koichi frowned, not even bothering to unfold his arms. "Are you kidding, Momo? There's no one here for at least a mile."

Momoko shook her head, and her eyes were held slight twinges of fear in their pearly surfaces.

"No," she said again. "Something's coming."

She drew the kunai up to her front in an icepick stance, and she moved forward from the wall. Koichi exhaled, but followed suit, pulling out a kunai and moving carefully beside her through the underbrush. There was something in Momoko's expression, and he knew Momoko for what she was; lazy. A lot of the time it was hard to tell whether she was underestimating her opponents and overestimating her luck all at once, or whether she was just so skilled an analyst that she just _knew._

He didn't know which to believe, but he _definitely _wasn't the type to test his luck. He moved forward with caution.

Momoko, leading the way, abruptly put her palm in front of Koichi to stop his advance. He looked at her, but she didn't meet his gaze.

There it was; indeed, a shadow. Koichi tried to focus his Byakugan; sure enough, there was certainly something there, but it was so shadowy, so easy to pass over, and it felt to him as natural as any of the trees did. An animal, he wondered? Even then, he could see no trace of chakra. His Byakugan couldn't _focus _on it.

The thing came into a beam of moonlight through the canopy above them. It was a young boy, with dark hair.

Momoko said nothing, and Koichi could see her hand trembling, so he spoke first.

"What do you want?" he hissed. 'I still can't see his chakra. Just what the hell is going on?'

Momoko's arm shook, and she began to step backwards, shaking her head.

"Koichi," she said. "Run."

Koichi looked back at her, confused and horrified all at once as her head split apart to reveal a white gelatinous mass that bore wings that sprouted like horns from it and then wet, ghastly feathers that were strung away from one another like the splitting of an infected wound.

Momoko, on the other hand, felt it.

Naruto smiled contentedly at the two shrieking ninja captured in genjutsu, and letting his Sharingan shimmer away, proceeded to step over their twitching bodies with his hands in his pockets.

'_Ah, women,' _Naruto thought. _'Such fascinating, beautiful creatures, but to care about them is a mere obstacle. You've an arrow in you yet, Koichi Hyuuga. Not that you'd be fair opposition if you had not.'_

He continued towards the entrance of the Hyuuga compound. It was all very clean, and well supervised; after White Zetsu had spent some time explaining the Hyuuga traditions, Naruto supposed the Bird-Cage Seal was a fair idea. After all, protecting such eyes efficiently required the eyes themselves, and putting guards out put them at risk of kidnap. Having Branch members instead made way for a severe reduce in risk. For a prick with more issues than relatives, it wasn't the dumbest idea Naruto had ever heard. Thattitle went straight to the continued existence of Sasuke Uchiha.

Morphing the Hoshokugan into the Mangekyo Sharingan with the scraping crash of crumbling glass, he made his way through the main path of the complex and towards the building of the main clan. He encountered no resistance in the street, perhaps by the assumption that the guards had let him in. Or, everyone could just be asleep. That would just be embarrassing, though.

He suspected it was the case. When he had almost made it to the doors, white-eyed guards pounced on him with hands alight and weapons drawn but it took a simple glance to send them screaming to the floor. Naruto could just kill them and keep the noise down, but the attention kept things interesting and really, there was nothing fun about terminating clans in their entirety bar a single young heir.

Just kidding. Itachi had probably had a ball. But it didn't suit Naruto's purposes, so he just left a trail of screaming, crying ninja in his wake. And all was at peace in the world.

Halfway down the hall, a door drew open to reveal Hiashi, leaning on an aged wooden cane with a look of fury in his eyes. He looked frail, but his voice boomed off of the wooden walls like the hammer of a judge.

"You," he said. "What is your business here? What have you done with my daughter?"

Naruto let his hands meet in a sarcastic round of applause, stepping forward. "Good to see you at least noticed she was gone," Naruto said. "Better than I'd expected of you."

Hiashi narrowed his eyes, and Naruto sighed, shrugging.

"If you _really _want to know, she's doing just fine," Naruto continued, adjusting his belt and checking his fingernails for dirt. "She's free of you, and I'd definitely say she's better for it. After all, you've never really cared about her, right?"

Naruto heard the tap of Hiashi's cane hitting wood, and the man leveled him a stare that promised pain and retribution. Two guards made their way behind Hiashi, standing at his side and watching Naruto with eyes that nigh-glowed in the darkness.

"Your stay in the T&I department will be prolonged and painful, Torami Nobuko," Hiashi hissed. "Though I have my doubts that is your true namesake at all, by the end, we will know exactly who you are, and we will make no mistake in letting you live. I'd daresay you'll agree."

Naruto stepped forward, quickly pulling kunai into either hand and settling into an offensive stance.

"Man, you bastards are arrogant," he said, his casual, bored disposition simmering into an aura that demanded attention.

Hiashi moved forward with a speed that resembled none of his slow, scuffling appearance.

"Speak for yourself, _child!_" he roared, almost making a fiery, impressive contact with Naruto's chest.

A kawarimi was left in his place, Naruto using the appearance of the log to jump off of it and smash through the roof.

Naruto _had _underestimated him. Not that it wasn't a speed he could match five times over, but Hiashi was a deceptive man that managed his every twitching movement with a control that would have rivaled Itachi's.

He settled on the roof, and Hiashi was up there in an instant, giving him no time to gain his bearings as he rushed Naruto with his hands ablaze. The boy dodged beneath the first hit, before launching a kick upwards into the hit that Hiashi had misjudged.

The impact glanced off of Hiashi's shoulder, and he was given a moment to move backwards and take account once again. Naruto reached into his pouch, withdrawing a handful of kunai and launching them forward with accuracy unprecedented.

Hiashi moved into the Kaiten, his movement ascending almost instantly into a heavenly blue spin that sent Naruto's weapons clattering to the ground. It was an impressive movement, and Naruto quickly activated his Sharingan.

Not that Naruto had wanted to crush Hiashi so embarrassingly - a lie, actually, Naruto hated him - but the man wasn't an idiot. There was an obvious wisdom about him.

And maybe there were more efficient methods, but Naruto would be a liar if he said he didn't enjoy a bit of a flair to his work.

He watched carefully and maneuvered around Hiashi's glowing palm attacks. The man was moving entirely offensively, but was just about fast enough to accomplish it with efficiency.

There was an abrupt opening at last, when his palm moved with momentum so much so that he was sent slightly off balance. Naruto jumped backwards and off of his hands to make some distance, and let the gleaming amber of his eyes fracture into a soft, milky white.

Hiashi Hyuuga froze at the sight, and Naruto, the rounded fighting style of the Hyuuga imprinted into his mind by the Sharingan, proceeded gleefully into the Gentle Fist.

"How in the- the Byakugan?" Hiashi whispered in disbelief, barely dodging Naruto's first hit and being hit cleanly by the second to his sternum. It sent a wave of painful, alien chakra through his gut, and his stomach convulsed. He wretched, trying to gather his senses and move to the side only to be caught in an unclean, brutal kick that caught him by the arm with a crunch of his bones and sent him rolling across the roof-tiles.

Hiashi tried to stand up. An acute channel of pain pulsed through his arm, and he winced, gathering his resolve and pushing himself to his knees with his uninjured arm.

His guards were at his side immediately, one lifting him by the shoulders and the other at his side.

"Lord Hiashi! Your arm-"

"I know," he bit back. "You must report this to the Hokage, at all costs. This man is a risk to Konoha and its people. He must not be allowed to continue… and with eyes like that…!"

"Don't like my eyes, Hiashi-sama?" Naruto sneered, walking forward and kicking aside shattered rooftiles as he did. "It must hurt you to see your god-given techniques and dojutsu robbed from you in an instant."

Hiashi looked at his guards with a look of urgency, getting to his feet. "You must go."

"But Lord Hiashi, you'll-"

"Ah, don't fret," Naruto said, smiling sympathetically with a hand on his hip. "I'll make the decision for you."

Hiashi heard it before he saw it. A splitting squelching that sucked and crawled like a fast-moving slug, and he could hear the sticky movement of gooey flesh against air as his guards desperately tried to breathe. The moment it unstuck itself from their throat, the mouth full of blood that had been bulging at the top of their mouths sprayed out of their dry gasping lips and onto Hiashi.

He looked to them, their blood trailing down his face. Out of their mouths crawled an opaque, clay-like and viscous at once _thing _with no eyes or mouth but tiny talon like hands and feet that it extended at will to hook onto the outside of their faces for leverage to push itself out. One took with it a tooth impaled upon its talon as it climbed out of their mouth and scrambled down his guard's body with the disorganised movement of a spider that convulsed and morphed like a sickness. The two things scrambled from the blood-stained, infested bodies and crawled up Naruto's and onto his shoulder, cooing and whispering into his ear like long-time companions.

"Stop worrying about those," Naruto smirked, bringing up a hand to pet the rodent-spider-esque beasts, "And worry about yourself."

Hiashi felt something shift and giggle in his gut, and his eyes widened in horror. He could feel them _scratching_.

His lips were wet now; he brought his hand up to them, and drew it away to see the smear of blood.

"W-When did you…?"

Naruto stepped towards the man, who was buckling and shaking with the pain of the talons poking through the stomach and clawing at his heart.

"Why," Naruto said, beaming at him, "Before I even moved into the compound. What fool do you take me for, Hiashi?"

Hiashi was coughing the blood up in spades now, clutching at his stomach and scratching at the flesh and wishing they'd just split open his flesh and _escape. _The ones on Naruto's shoulder snickered to themselves, before sidling along Naruto's arm and morphing _into _it at its end.

"Following Hiashi Hyuuga's tragic assassination at the hands of a rogue Kirigakure shinobi," Naruto continued, "Hinata Hyuuga will be unanimously elected as clan head."

The man scowled between the racking, hacking coughs, falling to his knees and clasping his mouth. The blood squeezed between his fingers.

"Coward," Hiashi hissed. "_Coward._"

Naruto snorted. "Her bitch of a sister, they decide, can spend the rest of her life with a seal on her head, and threat of death hanging over her."

Hiashi looked at him with such an honest, desperate hatred, writhing on the floor at this point.

"Not…" He struggled for the words, blood trickling from his pursed lips, "Not my _family…!_"

Naruto leant down, on one knee, and gave the man the most condescending look he could muster, unable to push down a smile. His eyes rippled into a golden amber, and the whites into a sludge-like, festering black. He leaned to touch heads with the man.

"Enjoy your time in hell, Hiashi," Naruto smirked. "They aren't as lenient as I am."

The Hoshokugan bore down on Hiashi Hyuuga with all the judgment in the world, and the man crumpled like paper and died.

The final piece of Zetsu emerged from the man's mouth like a long, footed rat, scurrying up to join the rest of his arm.

His eyes appeared on the back of Naruto's hand, eyeing the boy with a greedy look.

"Huh. Went better than expected."

He licked his lips. "Can I eat the branch guys?"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Just one. I need to send Hidan back something, after all."

He took his hand to Hiashi's jaw, turning the man's head about and examining him.

"Then again, he won't be needing those eyes of his. I'm sure Leader would be happy with such a gift."

* * *

><p>Naruto came home whistling a cheery tune and flicking at splashes of Hiashi Hyuuga's dried blood on his clothes.<p>

The guy was pretty respectable, he'd concluded. Naruto could respect total assholes for what they were: total assholes. Although he didn't appreciate that loser bagging on Hinata -

Oh, _man,_ Hinata.

The young girl came out from his right. She was in a dressing gown, scrubbing at her eyes and shaking with sobs.

"T-Torami-kun," Hinata hiccuped, breathing in deeply before shaking and bursting into tears midway. She fell to her knees.

"Hinata-chan!"

Her lips trembled. "I… My… M-My father…"

Naruto looked at her, his face the very picture of gentility and sympathy.

"Hinata-chan," he asked, drawing her closer and weaving his fingers in between hers, "What is it? Are you alright?"

"M-My father… he's… he's…"

Hinata cracked into a wail. "He's d-_dead!_"

Her sobs echoed through the halls. Naruto hummed into her ear, muttering to her sweetly and pulling her closer to him. Her tears were wetting his shirt.

Naruto supposed he could deal with her being sad, but then, why bother when he could make it less painful for the both of them?

Rubbing her shoulder with one hand, Naruto tilted her gaze to his with a light push on her chin, casting an elaborate genjutsu. It was similar to the one he'd used to make her more pliable, but luckily toned down those hysterical emotions. Grief didn't need to be so overt, in any case.

"Do you feel better?" Naruto asked gently.

She stared up at him, wide eyed and in confusion.

"I… yes," she murmured. "I don't understand…"

"It's alright Hinata. You're too kind, even to those who don't deserve it, like your father." Naruto felt his face twist into a grimace remembering the man.

"Still… he-"

"Hinata," Naruto said, cutting her off. "He was a cold, arrogant, heartless man who let his daughters compete under the threat of virtual enslavement. He isolated you Hinata. He _hurt _you."

"I.." Her eyes looked vacant and melancholy.

"I know he was your father, but he's gone now." Naruto said. "What's more, I suspect you will be made the clan head, which gives you the opportunity to be _free_ again. The Hyuuga will have no choice but to listen to you if you want to explore other interests, or even move in here."

"C-Clan head?" Hinata squeaked. "I don't know what to do! I'm not ready…"

Naruto let her curl into his chest, her breasts pressing against him warmly.

"Don't worry. I'll help you." he said, flashing her a grin.

"For now, why don't you get some rest. You've had a rough day."

A quick genjutsu had the girl fall limply into his arms, and Naruto brushed aside a strand of hair from her pale face.

"I'll see you later, Hinata-chan."

Lifting her up into a bridal carry, Naruto rolled his neck, and made his way into the master bedroom.

Although Naruto was kind of into that vulnerable-state kind of thing, seeing her tears had put him out of the mood, and he really needed to get cleaned up.

Settling her onto the silk sheets, Hinata shifted, curling up into a foetal position, and Naruto changed quickly, discarding his used clothes onto the bed.

Rifling through his wardrobe - which was the same outfit, over and over again - Naruto wondered what to do. Even killing that bastard of a father had only given him a temporary adrenaline high.

Being around the Akatsuki was a fulfilling experience, but here in Konoha it seemed he couldn't help but feel bored no matter what. He needed something else to do. Preferably something that inconvenienced Konoha as much as possible.

Pulling on his top, Naruto got a sudden burst of inspiration.

Thinking about Kushina Hatake's face, Naruto couldn't help but _smile _defiantly_. _It was time to test his limits a little. After all, he _was _a ninja.

* * *

><p>"Well," Naruto muttered, wiping a smudge of chocolate sauce off Konoha's coveted Forbidden Scroll of Sealing, "That was shit."<p>

Konoha had, if possible, managed to undercut his expectations even further than before. How the fuck had it been so _easy? _Did no-one care at _all _about whether Konoha was destroyed? Not that he did, but surely these people who went on about the village could at least try and defend a scroll containing all their most dangerous techniques.

Typical Konoha nin. All talk about protecting the village and your friends, and a complete and utter failure to do so. He didn't know what he'd been expecting. It was just a fascinatingly poor performance, really.

Naruto wondered absent-mindedly, sinking his teeth into another bite of chocolate-filled doughnut, how the hell the presumably inbred and genetically bottle-necked ninja of Konoha had managed to produce a ninja like Itachi.

Rubbing at the stain on the ancient parchment, Naruto frowned. The chocolate wasn't coming off. Oh well.

Removing his thumb from that spot, he saw the lines of writing beneath it.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," he murmured, running his finger along the characters. "S-rank kinjutsu. Banned for extremely high chakra consumption. Seals…"

Naruto leant back and made a seal with his fingers, preparing to say the technique name when he felt the powerful rush of chakra and presence as a hundred Naruto's filled the forest behind him.

Looking around, he laughed.

"It was like it was made just for me!"

Dispelling his clones, Naruto put his hands in his pockets and headed home.

It was time for some rest. The bell test tomorrow would no doubt be a lot of fun… and if Sasuke didn't pass, maybe Naruto would have a shot at being free of his miserable mug.

Locking his door behind him, he considered going to see Hinata, but had no illusions about her emotional state. She was _way _too emotional for Naruto to be dealing with at this time of night. That, and he doubted she'd want to be around him right now.

Stretching, Naruto ran his hands through his hair, kicked off his gear, and went to bed.

* * *

><p>Naruto made his way to the training grounds at a leisurely pace.<p>

After all, he reasoned, that asshole Kakashi sure wouldn't be there yet. In fact, he should be grateful that Naruto was even making time for his arrival at all. If Naruto could be bothered, he'd have waited an extra hour just to make sure that he kept Kakashi waiting for a little bit.

But really, this was the trump card, for Naruto. He'd had a good breakfast, plenty of sleep, and Kakashi's late arrival would all be for nothing. Ha. That, and Sasuke, who'd probably actually bothered following their idiot sensei's "instructions", would no doubt be tired and hungry. Just as he should be. Moron.

All was going according to plan.

"Hello, Naruto."

He froze.

That- _what-_

"You're rather late," Kakashi continued, engrossed in his book as he made his way towards Naruto. "In fact, you've kept the whole team waiting."

Naruto turned to look incredulously at Sasuke and Akina. Sasuke, in particular, looked murderous.

"If you've finished slacking off and disobeying my orders, shall we begin the test?"

Naruto gaped for a moment, before regaining his composure and smirking. After all, Naruto still had an advantage here, he reminded himself. A functioning brain, unlike all the other dunces.

"Sure," he said, a hand on his hips as he allowed himself a cocky smirk. "I'm ready."

"Alright then," Kakashi said, clapping his book shut and holding up a stopwatch.

"This will be a… retrieval exercise, let's say. You must retrieve a bell from me, by noon. However…"

Kakashi reached for his belt.

It was empty.

"These bells, sensei?" Naruto sneered, the jingling of two bells ringing just by his ear.

Kakashi smiled. "Now, now, my adorable students. I didn't say go yet, now, did I?"

Naruto smirked, clasping his fist only to feel his fingers close in on thin air. He turned sharply in time to see Kakashi clipping the bells to his belt. Oh, he could imagine the dirty, smug grin behind that mask.

Kakashi Hatake was better than he had thought.

His sensei brought his hands together, and smiled.

"Alright then," he said. "Go!"

He disappeared into smoke.

Turning to Akina and Sasuke, Naruto saw the two move together. He could imagine they'd form a plan. After all, there were only two bells, and they certainly didn't seem to want him here. At least, Sasuke didn't.

"Oi, you two."

Sasuke shot him a scowl. "What."

"Let me tell you something about this test," Naruto smirked. Kakashi wasn't in the area; he could feel it. "It's a trick. Getting the bells isn't important at all."

Akina raised an eyebrow.

"The bell test is all about teamwork," he said. "There are two bells so that Kakashi can intentionally split us up. In the end, think about it. As a genin, are we _really_ prepared to face up to a jounin alone?"

Naruto saw Akina and Sasuke's expressions flash from irritation into shock, and smiled victoriously.

"Even the three of us working together might not have a chance. In the end, it's all to see whether we'll work together. As a ninja…"

Naruto noticed something off about Akina and Sasuke.

They weren't looking at him.

They were looking _behind _him.

"How insightful of you."

_Fuck._

"I mean," Naruto said, laughing awkwardly, "that's… the idea behind it? Right, sensei?"

Kakashi Hatake stared him down, and Naruto suddenly knew what other people must feel like facing down Kisame.

After a long moment, Kakashi's eye crinkled into a smile.

"I suppose so."

He was fucked. That smile revealed nothing about what emotions might be running through the man. For all Naruto knew, he could be almost ready to strangle him, or disqualify him outright.

There was _some_ way to fix the situation. He _knew_ it. Just how-

"Hmm. In that case," Kakashi said, cocking his head in thought. "Let's see some teamwork, as Torami so eloquently put it."

Their sensei disappeared in a puff of smoke, only to appear again a moment later.

"Oh, I forgot." Kakashi said with another smile.

"Don't forget about the time limit."

As their sensei disappeared, Akina turned to Naruto with vengeful snarl on her face.

"We are in _such _deep shit, no thanks to you."

Naruto sighed.

"I know."

* * *

><p>The search began. Because, well, quite frankly, not Naruto, nor Akina, nor Sasuke, could find Kakashi. Anywhere.<p>

Naruto's first move had been to use the Byakugan. He'd like to have thought that was accurate enough, but he'd clearly underestimated Kakashi and refused to take anymore goddamn chances. He'd resorted to looking with his bare hands. All _three _of them were.

It had been one fucking hour of searching. He was now pushing past the underbrush, hacking at the branches with his Tanto Blade. This sure didn't feel like being a ninja.

A nettle stung his forearm, and Naruto leaned back and grabbed his hair in both hands.

"HE'S NOT EVEN IN THE GODDAMN _FOREST!_" Naruto shouted, trying to contain his fury. "Knowing that _prick_, he's probably off ordering _breakfast _right now _with his head buried in erotica!_"

Watching as Naruto grabbed the nearest tree trunk and began banging his head into it, Sasuke let a small smile creep onto his face.

Yes, he supposed. He _did_ like this new teacher after all.

* * *

><p>Moving into the town, the three of them came to the decision that splitting up would be the best option, and agreed to meet up at the memorial stone come the end of the hour should they have not found anything, and should they find anything, engage. Full force. Naruto knew all three of them were beyond giving a fuck about the state of the village.<p>

After two streets of searching for a masked, grey-haired man, Naruto finally snapped and put his fingers together. No, he did not give a fuck about using the Shadow Clone technique in public. Fuck the village, fuck his cover, and _fuck _Kakashi Hatake.

The street filled with a thousand of him, crowding around the few passerby civilians, before they all jumped.

Naruto checked _every_ nook and cranny. Each street had at least one furious Nobuko Torami roaming down it, the sheer killing intent pouring off him keeping ninja and civilians alike away in a radius of 5 meters minimum.

Come the end of the hour, when Naruto dispelled his clones, and the memories returned to him, he noted, with a small note of barely restrained homicidal fury, that Kakashi Hatake, prick of all pricks, _remained unfound._

"I'm going to burn it. All of it." Naruto vowed.

* * *

><p>They met at the memorial stone in silence.<p>

"Anything?" Naruto said, not even raising his head from its slump. Kakashi Hatake required a stamina in and of himself. Was it a special technique? Naruto had never experienced exhaustion like it. It was in his very bones.

"No." his teammates chorused back. Sasuke shot Naruto a glare, which was immediately returned. He didn't even have the energy to hate Sasuke. Kakashi truly _was _powerful.

They sat on the Memorial Stone's edges for a moment, Naruto putting his head in his hands.

Akina sat up abruptly.

"Wait."

Her eyes widened.

"He… He _wouldn't_."

"WHAT?" Naruto and Sasuke chorused instantly, shooting each other a brief glare.

Akina shook her head, disbelieving.

"His office… It's to the left of my mother's," she said, "I didn't think to check-"

Naruto and Sasuke were already running.

* * *

><p>The door to Kakashi's office slammed open.<p>

Kakashi was sat in his seat, leaning back, a bagel in one hand and his stopwatch in the other.

The three genin heaved for breath, Naruto lifting a finger accusingly and opening his mouth.

Their sensei shot them an eye-smile, and stopped the watch with a click.

"Time's up."

The three genin froze. Naruto prepared his biggest fire jutsu. Fuck cover. Fuck _Konoha. _He didn't give a _shit _about this mission anymore. Pein would surely understand-

"However…"

Naruto stopped.

"You three did show an exemplary amount of teamwork however ineffective-" -the three of them glared- "-it ultimately was."

Kakashi took on a thoughtful look, bringing a hand to his chin, before he snapped his fingers and smiled.

"You pass!"

Whether Kakashi had expected laughter and cheering or not, it didn't come.

"What?" Naruto said, flabberghasted. "_What?_"

Sasuke appeared to have calcified. Akina facepalmed.

Naruto stammered, his tongue feeling like a dead caterpillar.

"But-But the _bells-_"

"Ah, that? I was just kidding. You three are so serious."

Leaning back in his chair, and entirely failing to burst into flames under the combined glares of Akina, Naruto, and Sasuke, Kakashi went on.

"I expect to see you three here at 6:00AM sharp, as Team 7."

Akina and Sasuke slowly moved out, grumbling quietly to themselves and leaving with sluggish steps.

Naruto didn't move. He could feel his left eye and fingers twitching. Surely, if he let off a Fireball Jutsu now, he wouldn't have time to _dodge_. He could fight his way out, probably.

Kakashi looked at him, chewing quietly, his bagel having spontaneously had a bite taken out of it. Naruto didn't even want to_ begin_ wondering how the hell the man had pulled that off.

"Shoo. I have work to do. Any questions can wait until tomorrow morning."

Naruto fought movement into his body, turned on his heel,l and stalked out of the office, slamming the door.

With each step he took, Naruto swore on his life that he would desecrate each and every one of Kakashi's most beloved things.

The book would come first.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Wow, you guys guessed it. Yes, Kakashi is Akina's father. There will be later explanation as to why this is the case. Shoutout to Chaser-04 for pointing out an error in the last chapter! As always, flames are ignored.**

**(Not saying any names yet, but they do exist unfortunately. D:)**

**Next time on Absolution: Team 7 Shenanigans, Naruto's training room, and Hinata's promotion to clan head.**

**Until next time. Ciao!**


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